The roar of the lioness sparked both fear and joy within the children visiting the Khan Younis (South Forest Park) Zoo in Gaza. The moment the she started roaring, they ran to her enclosure, asking: “Is she hungry?”

Ahmed Kawareh, one of the zookeepers, told them she was. He then turned to the adults and whispered, “It’s mating season, and there are no male lions to keep her company.”

The South Forest Park Zoo, established in 2007, stretches over an area of 8,000 square meters in the southern Gaza Strip. The zoo used to house another lion, but it died during the first war in 2008-2009. Some of the zookeepers said that the lion died of neglect and starvation during the war that lasted for 20 days, while others said it ate something poisonous. In any case, the lioness has been alone for more than four years.

Nour Ayyad, 10, stood in front of the fox enclosure. She hopes to one day see an elephant or a giraffe in Gaza instead of the wolves, monkeys, cats and rabbits that currently fill the region’s zoos, all of which she had already visited with her parents.