Only days after being born in the zoo in Gaza and becoming the pride of the local residents, the lion cubs named Fajr and Sejil died. According to Hamas reports, the cause of death isn’t clear, but it was noted that the conditions in the zoo were not suitable for raising exotic animals of prey like lions.

Lion cubs Photo Credit: Channel 2

Two lion cubs born in the Gaza Strip this week, Fajr and Sejil, died yesterday.  The Hamas newspaper reported that although the cause of death is not clear, the conditions in the zoo were not suitable for raising exotic animals of prey like lions.

Only the day before yesterday the Gaza Strip Zoo displayed with pride the lion cubs for the first time to the public.  Hamas, on the anniversary of Operation Pillar of Defense, decided to call the lion cubs Fajr, the name of an Iranian made missile fired at Israel, and Sejil, the name given by Hamas to the conflict last year as well as the name of an Iranian ballistic missile.

The cubs were born to lions that were smuggled into Gaza from Egypt via the tunnels four years ago and the zoo hoped that the lion couple would give birth to young lions.  The day before yesterday, zoo workers displayed the lion parents smuggled into Gaza with pride and spoke of their contribution: “Thanks to G-d we brought them here.  There were only three lions when they came here; now there are over four,” the zoo workers stated the day before yesterday.

At that time, another zoo manager expressed hope that the lion cubs would improve the conditions in the zoo.  “As you can see, the zoo is not in the best condition.  We hope that the message goes through to help these two lion cubs,” Mohammed Shaban stated.   Yet yesterday, the two lion cubs passed away.