Germany evacuated eight donkeys from Gaza while rejecting the treatment of Palestinian children.
As a humanitarian gesture, the Germans shone a light in the dark ocean of need in Gaza by evacuating eight donkeys and providing them with medical and psychological care.
Let's focus here on the heroes, the donkeys.
Before the genocide, donkeys, horses, and mules were essential in Gaza for economic purposes—mainly for farming, but also for transporting crops and goods across the countryside. During festivals, Palestinians would dress them up, and children would take photos with them.
I can't imagine how many more Palestinians would have died during and after the genocide in Gaza if the donkeys hadn't been there.
I understand that the donkeys were starving, just like my people, and were terrified and traumatized by the explosions and gunfire. But consider this: what would have happened if a pregnant woman in labor couldn't find a cart to transport her to a supposedly safe hospital in the middle of the night, under bombardment?
They became the primary method of transportation. They moved the elderly and children. In many cases, they acted as ambulances for the injured. Journalists rode them to cover stories. Aid workers loaded supplies onto them, and Civil defense units used their carts to clear rubble.
It was not the Gazans who put the donkeys in this situation. The Israeli state decides when and if Gazans and donkeys can eat, drink, move, or live without being bombed.
According to UN data from August 2024, by that time, 43% of all working animals in the region had already been killed or had died from wounds and disease in the year since the war began. At that time, the number of surviving donkeys, horses, and mules in Gaza was estimated at 2,627. It is clear that, due to the ongoing fighting and the continuing blockade, the number of these animals has fallen even further.
The animals also suffered from treatable illnesses because Israel banned the import of medical equipment. However, another factor is at play: donkeys are also being evacuated—or, as Palestinians describe it, stolen—and transferred to shelters in Europe.
The Israeli authorities have gone to great lengths to destroy the emergency medical services and civil defense in Gaza, including by targeting 140 ambulances, according to WHO,” and 54 rescue vehicles, and blocking the entry of fuel. As a result, Palestinians have had to rely on donkey-drawn carts as a primary alternative to ambulances. This reliance explains Israel's subsequent campaign to eliminate these animals from Gaza.
And that’s where Germany decided to show its humanitarian side….
During roughly the same period, the German federal government rejected a request to bring 20 injured Palestinian children to Germany for treatment, citing the “complexity” of the situation and administrative challenges.
History will be exhausted from judging the German government's actions.
