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Lion cubs kept by Gaza family stuck at border crossing en route to Jordan animal sanctuary

Associated Press
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Ibrahim Al-Jamal, 17, hugs Mona, the female lion cub, as his father Saduldin, 54, strokes her as they wait to evacuate from Gaza to the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, Friday, July 3, 2015. A pair of lion cubs are stuck at a Gaza-Israel border crossing en route to a Jordan animal sanctuary, after being kept for a year by a family in crowded Gaza. Saduldin al-Jamal had bought the cubs from the Gaza zoo, hit during last summer's Israel-Hamas war. His family would take them to parks or the beach and children — those brave enough — would come up to pet them. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) (The Associated Press)

Ibrahim Al-Jamal, 17, hugs Mona, the female lion cub, as his father Saduldin, 54, right, looks on, before the two lion cubs depart from Gaza to the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, Friday, July 3, 2015. A pair of lion cubs are stuck at a Gaza-Israel border crossing en route to a Jordan animal sanctuary, after being kept for a year by a family in crowded Gaza. Saduldin al-Jamal had bought the cubs from the Gaza zoo, hit during last summer's Israel-Hamas war. His family would take them to parks or the beach and children — those brave enough — would come up to pet them. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) (The Associated Press)

Ibrahim Al-Jamal, 17, kisses Mona, a female lion cub, waiting to evacuate from Gaza to the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, Friday, July 3, 2015. A pair of lion cubs are stuck at a Gaza-Israel border crossing en route to a Jordan animal sanctuary, after being kept for a year by a family in crowded Gaza. Saduldin al-Jamal had bought the cubs from the Gaza zoo, hit during last summer's Israel-Hamas war. His family would take them to parks or the beach and children — those brave enough — would come up to pet them. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) (The Associated Press)

A pair of lion cubs are stuck at a Gaza-Israel border crossing en route to a Jordan animal sanctuary, after being kept for a year by a family in crowded Gaza.

Saduldin al-Jamal had bought the cubs from the Gaza zoo, hit during last summer's Israel-Hamas war. His family would take them to parks or the beach and children — those brave enough — would come up to pet them.

Al-Jamal was crying on Friday as he gave the cubs up to Amir Khalil from the British Four Paws charity, which was to take them to Jordan.

Khalil aid the cubs shouldn't "sleep on tiles, but on grass, sand or savannah."

The charity then transported them to the crossing but got stuck in no man's land after the crossing closed.