DOGS ARE HEROS TOO

How the IDF's canine unit rushed to the scene on its own initiative – and saved lives

During the harrowing moments on Oct. 7, the special unit – which normally fights only alongside other commandos – improvised on its own. "A dog who was with one of our men went in to comb a house," Lieut. Col. A. related. "He revealed the location of two terrorists, took a burst of gunfire from them, and was killed."

 

By  Lilach Shoval

 

Israel Hayom

Oct 26, 2023

 

Soldiers from the IDF Oketz (K-9) unit and their dog

 

On October 7, at 7:15 a.m. the commander of the Oketz (K-9) unit, Lieut. Col. A., was awakened at his home in Rehovot by unusual sirens. After rushing to his protected space with his wife and children, he, like everyone in Israel, tried to understand what had happened. "I didn't get any order from higher-ups, no one told us to scramble. But we began to realize from the social networks and phone calls from my people in the Gaza periphery that something out of the ordinary was under way there," he related.

On his own counsel, without being ordered, Lieut. Col. A. set up a conference call with all of his platoon commanders and rushed the entire unit to its parent base at the Adam facility. The unit's on-call members were sent southward at once and the rest of them began to reach the destination one by one. "By 11:00, everyone who had reached the unit was matched with combat gear. Commanders and soldiers with dogs all raced southward in unprotected vehicles. We began to contact all the units that had rushed into the field in order to match them and the dogs with the troops – General Staff Sayeret Matkal commandos, Shaldag, naval commandos, Duvdevan, Maglan, Egoz, the anti-terror school, paratroop commandos, the southern counter-terrorism unit. Even the special police, who had their own dogs, put in an exceptional request for help. Quite a few of their dogs had been hit."

Oketz does not operate independently; its members and their dogs are paired with other units. However, Lieut. Col. A. decided to use members who were in training, form them into three platoons together with reservists and commanders, and send them southward. "At 11:00, I contacted the Gaza division's intelligence officer – he was dealing with his own pandemonium – and updated him about the order of forces that I still had, eighty or so troops in training, even though that's not the way my unit is employed. We made a decision, not a trivial one but a necessary one."

As the trainees' platoons were being set up, Nero – a canine with the Oketz force that had joined Naval Commando 13 – was killed while uncovering terrorists. "A dog who was with one of our men went in to comb a house," Lieut. Col. A. related. "He revealed the location of two terrorists, took a burst of gunfire from them, and was killed. That's how the men in the force realized that there were terrorists in the house, and human lives were saved. The troops fired at the terrorists and brought in engineering machinery that brought the house down on them. Lots of commanders from Naval Commando 13 contacted me and told me that the dog had saved their lives."

In another case, a team from Oketz joined up with a Duvdevan unit to comb open territory in the Beersheva area. "The dog inspected territory 50 to 200 meters in front of the forces and found a terrorist who had set up an ambush for the force in a grove of bushes. The dog bit the terrorist and that enabled the Duvdevan force to arrest him. After the fact, it turned out that he was a terrorist from Hamas' underground system, and in his interrogation he gave very important information for the continuation of the fighting," Lieut. Col. A. said. The deputy commander of the unit, Major N., and reserve platoon commander Capt. (Res.) Y. joined the training platoons that had gone south. "Around 12:30," Y. told us, "we reached the outskirts of Be'eri. On the way, we saw lots of bodies of terrorists and civilians outside the kibbutz, lots of terrorists' vans and motorcycles. As we moved, we encountered Major General (Res.) Yossi Bachar, who had gone into uniform at home. He had come under attack and had wiped out some of the terrorists before we'd arrived, but he couldn't say if the area was clear.

"We joined up with him the right way; he was on a ridge over the house and he waited. Bodies of terrorists whom he had killed were already there. He stood there in uniform with a major-general's insignia. When I reached him, he hugged me and told me that he was Yossi Bachar, even though I'd identified him right away. I told him where territory was clear and explained how he should get out. He left the kibbutz."

The task of the special Oketz unit at this stage was to join up with the deputy ravshatz [coordinator of routine security at the kibbutz] and a member of the on-call squad; they were trapped and under fire. "On the way, we saw terrorist with a communication device and we took it away from him. Because of it we were able to detect the terrorists' movements. We closed the circle and gave the device to Unit 504."

Major N. continued the story: "We joined up with the deputy ravshatz of the town and found a house where we placed all the civilians whom we found. At a certain stage we detected movement in a house that was on fire and we were sure they were terrorists. We asked the ravshatz to get in touch with the family that lived there in order to make sure it wasn't them, and yes, parents and children were trapped in there. We asked them to open the door, we went in, and we got them out through the windows. Three little kids and their parents."

They heard gunfire – and rushed to help

A short time later, the Oketz forces heard unusual exchanges of gunfire and decided to rush to the location in order to help. "We left one team behind to watch over the house where all the civilians were and we ran toward the exchanges of fire. We saw an officer from the General Staff Commandos behind a tree, asking for help," Y. related. "There were terrorists on the second floor of the house; they fired at us and at the commandos who were there. Quite a few were wounded and two of them looked to us as if they were dead. We helped them by opening fire while they were being extricated. The commander of the force was caught with the car and fired, and I fired from a terrace ten meters from him. In the meantime N. was trying to extricate the wounded."

At that stage, there were no sector boundaries and no clear orders. "Anyone who could engage the enemy strove to do so: to eliminate terrorists, rescue the wounded, evacuate civilians," Lieut. Col. A. said, concluding the account. "We're in a war for our homes; we've got to do everything to destroy Hamas. We owe it to ourselves and to our children's future. Our unit is ready, the IDF is ready, and our combat morale is enormously high."