Sometimes “good boy” just doesn’t cut it for expressing how wonderful a dog, or dogs, can be, with a recent example of dogs going above and beyond coming from Israel and Gaza. There, an Israeli K-9 unit is credited with having rescued over 200 civilians in communities near the Gaza Strip.
That came during a series of battles in communities in Israel but close to Gaza, where Israeli soldiers and their K-9 teammates partnered to go on a slew of rescue missions and rescued hundreds of civilians who were trapped or taken hostage during Hamas attacks.
The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman’s Unit commented on the operations, saying that the K-9 Units had “rescued hostages, saved lives, and eliminated terrorists who had barricaded themselves in houses” in a series of battles. The dogs and their handlers came from Israel’s Oketz K-9 Unit, and more than 200 civilians were rescued and at least 10 Hamas terrorists were killed during the operations.
According to the aforementioned IDF spokesperson, a canine named “Naro” managed to reveal a planned ambush in the area of a community called Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and though Naro died in the fighting Israeli soldiers were able to neutralize the Hamas threat. Another K-9 named “Charlie” was able to find a senior Hamas terrorist and work alongside Israeli soldiers to apprehend him in another incident.
The commander of Oketz, commenting on the situation, said that the dogs and their handlers are now preparing to move beyond Israel’s borders and go on the offensive in Gaza. He said, “The next step is to enter the Gaza Strip. The mission is to neutralize all the terrorists we confront in the field; we are ready, we are strong, we are united, and we are going to win.”
The name of the unit, Oketz, means “sting” in Hebrew. Commenting on that unit, the IDF spokesman’s website says, “It operates with specially trained dogs for missions in the field of counterterrorism, search and rescue, and other specific purposes. The unit operates in all regions of the country.”
The website continues, “Joining the unit is voluntary and therefore soldiers undergo difficult selection and testing before joining the unit. Each dog is trained to have a specific specialty (attack, search and rescue, locating weapons, detecting explosives, etc.).”
The dogs and their handlers will almost certainly be extremely busy in the coming days and weeks, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF are clearly preparing for an assault on the Gaza Strip, with the Israeli Air Force having bombed Gaza severely for over a week now as the army seemingly prepares to roll into the area.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, commenting on the situation, said, “Hamas thought we would be demolished. It is we who will demolish Hamas.” He went on to add that the nation’s show of unity “sends a clear message to the nation, the enemy, and the world“.
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