A dog that was stolen by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023 during the attack on Israel was reunited with her owner after she was found by an Israel Defense Forces soldier in Gaza.
The owner, Rachel Dancyg, was reunited with her pup, Billie, on Wednesday. Billie is three years old and has been gone for 18 months.
Dancyg’s ex-husband, Alex Dancyg, and brother, Itzhak Elgarat, were both kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Both were later killed while in Hamas’ captivity.
Since then, Dancyg had been under the impression her pet had been killed as well (via AP):
Then, on Tuesday night, Dancyg’s daughter received a phone call from a soldier who had just returned from Gaza. He said he had their dog.
“I couldn’t believe it. I asked for a photo. I was really confused,” said her daughter, Lee Maor.
The soldier said he found Billie in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah — about 9 miles (15 kilometers) from the Kibbutz — days earlier, and she immediately gravitated toward his troops, not leaving their side. It might have been because Billie heard them speaking Hebrew, he told them.
Speaking to Israeli television, reserve soldier Aviad Shapira said he found Billie among the rubble and called out to her. “I said ‘shalom’ and she jumped on me,” he said.
He had a feeling that she didn’t belong in Gaza and that there was a story behind her, Shapira said. He brought the dog to a veterinarian and found the family’s contact information on a chip inside the animal.
“It’s a miracle,” Dancyg told the Associated Press on Wednesday after she was reunited with her dog. “It doesn’t make sense ... People didn’t survive. How did she?”
According to the AP, Nir Oz was one of the hardest hit communities, with nearly a quarter of the approximately 400 residents killed or captured in the 2023 attack.
Hamas entered Dancyg’s home when she was in her safe room. She was there for eight hours before fleeing without time to search for the dog. There were no traces of the pup after. Her family then moved to northern Israel.
Convinced that Billie was gone for good, the family adopted another dog of the same breed.
“Now the two dogs will live together with us. It’s a miracle from heaven,” Dancyg’s son-in-law, Yaro Maor told YNet.