A pet dog kidnapped during Hamas‘ October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel has been rescued by an Israeli soldier almost 18 months after it was dragged back to Gaza.
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Billy was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel by Hamas gunmen as they stalked through the settlement and slaughtered Israeli civilians.
Billy belongs to Rachel Dancyg, the ex-wife of Alex Dancyg who was one of several Israeli hostages to die in captivity after being kidnapped by Hamas.
Rachel assumed her dog was also killed amid the brutal attack on Nir Oz.
But the three-and-a-half-year-old hound miraculously reappeared in Gaza last week nearly a year and a half after its abduction.
Aviad Shapira, an Israeli reservist operating in southern Gaza, claimed the dog bounded up to him as his unit was clearing buildings near the city of Rafah.
Shapira took the dog with his unit for four days before he was able to return to Israel, at which point he took Billy to a veterinarian.
The vet found the dog had been given a microchip implant, and further investigation revealed its owners were the Dancyg family.
That shock discovery set the stage for a surprise reunion this week as images of the dog emerged on social media.
An Israeli reservist operating in southern Gaza explained how the dog bounded up to him as his unit was clearing buildings near the city of Rafah. An Israeli soldier is pictured holding Billy
The three-and-a-half year old hound miraculously reappeared in Gaza last week nearly a year and a half after its abduction
Soldiers snap pictures with the spaniel
Billy’s return to the Dancyg family was heralded as a ‘miracle from heaven’ by Rachel’s son-in-law Yaron Maor, who told Israeli media about the reunion.
‘We are in complete shock and overwhelmed with emotion to see her tomorrow. We didn’t believe she had survived.
‘We got the kids another dog of the same breed. Now the two dogs will live together with us.
‘It’s a miracle from heaven,’ he concluded.
Though Billy’s returned warmed the hearts of the Dancyg family, 58 hostages still remain trapped in Gaza which has not received any humanitarian aid since March 2, even in the face of incessant Israeli attacks.
Israel confirmed this morning it would keep blocking humanitarian aid from entering the demolished territory indefinitely, despite warnings from various aid agencies and activist groups that conditions for the Palestinians living there were dire.
Israel’s forces resumed air and ground attacks across the Gaza Strip from March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas that had largely halted hostilities in the territory.
Defence Minister Israel Katz today said: ‘Israel’s policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population.
‘No one is currently planning to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and there are no preparations to enable such aid.’
Palestinians check the damaged following overnight Israeli strikes on a residential neighbourhood in Jabalia’s southwestern district of Nazla in the northern Gaza Strip on April 16, 2025
A Palestinian woman reacts as others carry the body of their relative, killed in an Israeli airstrike, in preparation for burial
A Palestinian man cries as bodies of relatives are prepared for burial following overnight Israeli strikes on Jabalia’s southwestern district of Nazla, that hit the Hessi family residence, in the northern Gaza Strip on April 16, 2025
Palestinian men check the damage following overnight Israeli strikes on Jabalia’s southwestern district of Nazla in the northern Gaza Strip on April 16, 2025
Top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have repeatedly cited military pressure as the only way to secure the release of the remaining 58 hostages held in Gaza.
But medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Israeli military operations and the blockage of aid had transformed Gaza into a graveyard.
‘Gaza has been turned into a mass grave of Palestinians and those coming to their assistance,’ said MSF coordinator Amande Bazerolle.
‘With nowhere safe for Palestinians or those trying to help them, the humanitarian response is severely struggling under the weight of insecurity and critical supply shortages, leaving people with few, if any, options for accessing care,’ she said.
The statement came as Israel continued to pound Gaza overnight into Wednesday.
A pre-dawn air strike in Gaza City killed 10 people, including women and children, the Strip’s civil defence agency said.
The renewed assault has so far killed at least 1,630 people in Gaza, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory reported.
The Gaza war erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians.
Since then at least 51,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza in the Israeli offensive, the territory’s health ministry said.
