In Gaza, nothing is as it seems... not even the zebra..

A zoo in Gaza lost its zebra, as they starved to death when the animal feeders refused to show up after the Operation Cast Lead in Gaza was complete. They tried to smuggle in a couple new zebra, but the operators of the tunnels were charging exorbitant amounts of money - $15,000 per zebra smuggled in, so the zookeepers found an alternate solution.

They took a donkey and painted it like a zebra. Now the kids in Gaza have an exciting zoo again.

It's really a painted donkey," admitted the zoo's director Mahmud Berghat when asked about the creature.

After explaining that the zoo used hair dye on the unsuspecting donkey, Mr Berghat said: "We cut its hair short and then painted the stripes."

Despite the confused four-legged beast hardly being able to fool zoologists, the "zebra" has been a hit with the thousands of Gaza-bound school children who have never seen such an exotic animal.

"But don't tell anyone," Mr Berghat said. "The children love him."