The Gaza Strip gets its first cat cafe, a cozy refuge from life under blockade

Published August 17, 2023 5:35 PM

By ISSAM ADWAN
Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The global cat cafe trend, where people pay to have coffee and hang out with cats, has finally come to the besieged Gaza Strip. In the impoverished Palestinian enclave run by the Hamas militant group and crippled by a 17-year blockade, residents seeking to escape the territory’s troubles flocked on Thursday to the new Meow Cafe — Gaza City’s answer to the quirky concept tried successfully worldwide. The cafe’s founder said she envisioned the spot as a unique escape from the pressures of life in Gaza — with its lack of recreational options, a youth unemployment rate of over 60% and frequent rounds of conflict with Israel since Hamas seized control of the strip in 2007.

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