A three-and-a-half-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October 2023 has been reunited with the family who feared she was lost forever.
By chance, IDF Golani reservist Aviad Shapira discovered a frightened dog amid the rubble in Rafah.
He looked after her over Pesach before taking her to a vet, where a microchip scan revealed the pet to be Billy, owned by Rachel Danzig, the ex-wife of hostage Alex Danzig and sister of Itzik Elgert, both murdered in Hamas captivity.
Tami Bar Yosef, who has documented all 67 dogs killed and missing following the Black Shabbat massacre wrote on her Facebook page: “It turns out that Aviad Shapira, a reserve soldier from the Golan who was in Rafah, saw a purebred dog coming out of the rubble and approaching him.
“He said she must have heard Hebrew and approached him. When he went on vacation, he took her for a veterinary checkup where her microchip was scanned.
Billy, depicted by illustrator Shoshke Engelmayer
“He discovered that the dog was from Nir Oz, saw the message that she was being sought, contacted the family, and today he will bring Billy back to her family.”
Israeli news outlet Ynet reports that Yaron Maor, Rachel’s son-in-law, said: “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.”
Click here to see the video of her reunited with her family.
