Gaza teen battles to feed three dogs amid food scarcity

Despite the turmoil surrounding Gaza, a displaced teen is keeping the faith and has his dogs as his comfort blanket, Reuters reported on February 21.
80% of the enclave’s population have been displaced and 30,000 have been killed since the beginning of October.
17-year-old Hassan Abu Saman is an avid dog lover and has been since a very young age and despite the chaos in the battle-stained territory, he is the owner of three dogs – named Mofaz, Lucy and Dahab – that he cherishes unconditionally.
One of roughly 1.8 million people being forced to flee due to repeated Israeli bombardments, Abu Saman used to stay in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, located in central Gaza, before departing for Gaza’s most southern city Rafah where he now lives in a tent on a beach. The highly densely populated city is now home to 1.5 million people.
Prior to Israel’s military offensive, the youth owned a whopping 16 dogs, the vast majority of which have gone missing.
READ: UN says Israel is holding back food for 1.1 million Gazans
“When things settled, I was able to secure a car to go and get the rest, but when I got back, I did not find any of them (the dogs), they were lost. I went back a second time to look for them and found the house bombed.” Abu Saman said.
Not only do his pets give him a modicum of joy but the dogs are also widely entertained by the fellow tent camp residents, notably the youngsters – many of whom are several years his junior.
Amidst a hunger crisis in Gaza, Abu Saman has talked about the difficulty of getting food for himself and others around him let alone for his pets.
It has been reported that 25% of Gazan households are enduring famine-like conditions as obstructive Israeli forces are often not letting aid in.
Talking about his biggest dog Mofaz, the teenager noted, “If we were to return, the house is flattened. He does not have a house or anything.”
Reuters