The price of a donkey in Gaza has surged from around $1,000 before the war to as much as $30,000, as the destruction of motorised transport and a shortage of working animals drive up demand in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, The Telegraph reports.
Dr Ahmed Thabet, a Gazan veterinary surgeon, told the British newspaper that the average price of a donkey before the war ranged between $1,000 and $1,200. Recently, prices had climbed to around $20,000, with one donkey selling for $30,000 last week.
“It’s a little bit crazy and people keep asking me ‘are you sure about that number?’,” Thabet told The Telegraph, adding that many people initially assumed he meant $3,000.
The sharp increase has been driven by the near-elimination of private motorised transport, the scarcity of donkeys and the emergence of traders who have accumulated substantial wealth by intercepting and reselling humanitarian aid, according to the report.
With vehicles and spare parts difficult to obtain, working animals have become essential for transporting goods, clearing rubble and moving household belongings across Gaza.
“This makes having a working animal an advantage,” Thabet said. “They move everything… rubble, trash, family possessions … you can get a good amount of profit from it.”
The price surge extends beyond donkeys to other working animals. Animal trader Abu Sanad Alsawarkah told The Telegraph that a strong, healthy donkey now costs between 60,000 and 70,000 Israeli shekels, equivalent to roughly $19,000 to $23,000.
Horses sell for between 80,000 and 90,000 shekels, while a good mule can fetch around 110,000 shekels, or approximately $35,000.
Alsawarkah said he recently bought a female donkey and her one-month-old foal for 80,000 shekels, around $26,000, before reselling them for a small profit.
“Prices change from week to week,” he said.
The number of donkeys and other equines in Gaza has also fallen dramatically during the war. According to the UK charity Safe Haven for Donkeys, the territory had an estimated pre-war population of around 5,000 such animals, almost half of which are believed to have died.
Many animals reportedly died from a lack of feed, with owners resorting to unsuitable alternatives such as raw lentils and uncooked rice. Others were killed by unexploded or live ordnance.
Although humanitarian and commercial aid deliveries have improved since major military operations ended and a tentative ceasefire took effect about a year ago, access to basic goods remains difficult for many households.
Thabet said a small number of people had become “unbelievably rich” by intercepting and reselling food and other supplies before the ceasefire. Some of them are now investing their money in donkeys and other working animals in an effort to gain control over transport in Gaza.
A World Food Programme report cited by The Telegraph in August found that three-quarters of surveyed households continued to face difficulties accessing markets, primarily because of cash shortages and the high cost of basic food items.
The price of livestock has also soared. A single sheep now costs between $6,000 and $8,000, while a lamb just one week old can sell for $800 to $1,000, according to the report.
The surviving working animals are facing harsh conditions, including inadequate veterinary care, shortages of medicines and the physical strain of transporting heavy loads.
Thabet, who returned to Gaza in 2017 after training in Jordan and Germany, runs a veterinary service for working animals funded by Safe Haven for Donkeys.
His team of two other veterinarians and a veterinary assistant now works from the remains of the Thabet Centre for Veterinary Science, one of Gaza’s veterinary hospitals, which was bombed during the war.
The facility was reduced to rubble, and almost all its supplies were destroyed.
“We have only a few instruments that we rescued and very limited medicines but we do the best we can,” Thabet told The Telegraph.
Common injuries include sores caused by harnesses and leads, as well as musculoskeletal, dental, gastrointestinal and hoof-related problems. A shortage of veterinary equipment and medicines has made treatment increasingly difficult.
The charity has refused to purchase supplies from the black market, saying it does not want to contribute to inflation. Instead, it is seeking the delivery of two large consignments of veterinary medicines and equipment through the United Nations Development Programme.
The charity has warned that the surviving animals remain essential to vulnerable communities despite severe shortages of feed, medicine and veterinary care.
As Gaza struggles to rebuild its economy and restore basic services, the soaring price of donkeys highlights how the destruction of conventional transport has turned once-common working animals into increasingly expensive and indispensable assets.