IDF soldiers unleashed their hunter-dog to attack an old Palestinian woman, the alleged attack occurs when the IDF had the dog and the camera attached to it.
According to a source, Hamas later kill the canine after abducting it alive in retaliatory move to the abuse of Palestinian women by the Israeli soldiers.
The IDF on Thursday refuted accusations that one of its canines attacked an old woman in Gaza. Qatar-based Al Jazeera published clear photos showing the dog in an aggressive attack of the seemingly terrified resident of Jabaliya.
The military said one of its hunter-dogs was abducted by Hamas during the fighting in Gaza. It was later found killed and his body boobytrapped to explode on soldiers if they attempted to retrieve it.
A Paratrooper Division in search of Hamas militants sent the attack dog with its handler into a building where they were thought to be hiding. The dog did not return, nor were there sounds of struggle or explosions, the military told ynet. The troops set out to inspect the building remotely using drones. At first, the dog was nowhere to be found but it was later seen sprawled on the street.
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The team managed to identify residual explosives coming from the dog’s body. The explosives were removed from the dog, which was taken for burial in the canine cemetery in the Canine unit – Oketz base.
The footage published by Al-Jazeera includes segments from the camera installed on the dog, showing it attacking the elderly woman in her home. She appears to be struggling with the dog on her bed.
However, the IDF said that even though the dog shown in the video was indeed a member of the canine unit, it had been abducted by Hamas with its equipment.
“The incident occurred after the handler lost touch with his dog,” the IDF said. “It never received orders to harm civilians.” The military also codemn the killing of the hunter-dog which allegely attacked an helpless old woman in her bed.
After the video went viral on social media, the woman, Daulat Abdallah Altanana, was interviewed where she explained the horrific incident: “He dragged me from the bedroom to the door and I was injured in my hand,” said the woman who was also displaced from her home during the war.
The footage was passed on to Al-Jazeera by correspondent Anas Al Sharif, who covers the northern Gaza area. He is a resident of Jabaliya whose home was also bombed in an IDF attack, and his father was killed.
