IDF dog recorded escaped hostage yelling for help five days before erroneous slayings — probe

A dog from the military’s Oketz canine unit recorded one of three escaped hostages yelling for help, according to new details from the military’s investigation, the latest indication of how far the trio went to signal their identities to the Israel Defense Forces before they were mistakenly shot to death by troops.

According to the probe, on December 10, troops of the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit encountered a group of Hamas operatives who opened fire at them from a building.

During the gun battle, an Oketz dog was sent into the building, which the army later determined was where the hostages were being held. The dog was killed by the Hamas gunmen, who were in turn killed by the Golani soldiers, allowing Alon Shamriz, Yotam Haim and Samar Talalka to escape captivity, according to the investigation.

During the battle, a camera mounted on the dog recorded the voice of a hostage, apparently Alon Shamriz, shouting “Help” and that there were hostages there. They are not seen on the footage. The feed from the dog’s body camera was not being monitored live and was only discovered on December 18 after the body of the canine was recovered.

Five days later, Shamriz, Haim, and Talalka attempted to approach troops, but were instead shot and killed.

The escaped hostages also left a sign in Hebrew reading “SOS” and “3 hostages. Help,” on another building in the area, but soldiers believed it was booby-trapped.