7-year-old girl attacked by pack of dogs, hospitalized

A seven-year-old girl in southern Israel was hospitalized Monday after being attacked by a pack of dogs while walking to her grandmother’s house.

The girl, who was identified only as Hannah, was knocked over and bitten by the 10 dogs on the outskirts of Ofakim after she went to pet some sheep.

She sustained moderate injuries.

“She really likes sheep and yesterday she went to hike near the house and wanted to pet one of the sheep,” her father was quoted as saying by Hebrew media. “When she approached the [sheep], the dogs guarding them jumped on her and bit her.”

Hannah recalled the attack Tuesday from her hospital bed at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

“I walked to [my] grandmother and didn’t see the dogs. Suddenly they bit me. They were big and they bit me,” she said.

Hannah was visited at the hospital by Sergeant Major Yael Edri, the police officer who rescued her.

“I arrived at the scene and saw a group of dogs attacking her. I opened the door of the vehicle and ran towards her. She was lying on the ground and couldn’t move,” Edri said, according to Channel 10.

“We fought with the dogs in order to extract her. The dogs also tried to attack me. I picked her up and ran to [the paramedics]. I threw rocks at [the dogs] and the two of us escaped,” the officer added.

Later Tuesday, police arrested the owner of the dogs. The remand of the suspect was extended for three days.