The IDF’s Oketz unit, which mixes female and male fight troopers with extremely skilled dogs, has succeeded in the course of the conflict with Hamas to find dozens of bombs, giant numbers of different Hamas weapons, positioned terrorist hideouts and ambushes, and helped discover the our bodies of murdered hostages Yehudit Weiss and Noa Marciano.
More particularly, the unit and the dogs have been vital in uncovering Hamas’s hid abuse of the Turkish, Rantisi, and Shifa hospitals.
A senior IDF official described Oketz getting into the hospitals with different particular forces models, like Maglan.
In the Turkish hospital, they discovered two giant bombs, one on the best way into the hospital and one inside a automobile in between two of the hospital buildings.
With the explosives within the automotive, after the canine signaled that it had explosives, the IDF used a Zik drone to destroy the automotive safely with out harming any troops.
At Rantisi, a canine named “Denver” discovered a bomb that additionally contained intensive bullets and shrapnel inside it.
Near Shifa, the dogs helped discover the our bodies of Weiss and Marciano, together with discovering round 20 objects associated to useless hostages.
Some findings occurred in an preliminary eight-hour operation and a few over 5 days afterward.
Another canine discovered a bomb in a bodily remedy division of Shifa.
The Jerusalem Post met two such Oketz dogs throughout a go to to Shifa final week.
Generally, Oketz discovered Hamas weapons in all the things from being stashed inside medical machines, to cupboards, to sufferers’ beds.
Four dogs died in motion in Gaza and a further canine died in preventing earlier than the invasion.
One canine named “Gandi”, who died solely three days in the past, saved the lives of a number of troopers.
The Oketz troopers despatched the canine right into a multistory building. The first and second flooring have been discovered to be “clear” of threats.
But on the third flooring, terrorists ambushed the canine, considering it was troopers.
This uncovered their position and allowed the IDF to direct important firepower to the third flooring, killing the terrorists.
The canine sacrificed its life to save lots of the troopers who would have been ambushed, and this was solely one in every of many such circumstances.
Despite the canine’s sacrifice, together with on October 7, Oketz misplaced an officer, Aryeh Tziring, in fight and one other 14 different troopers have been wounded in the course of the conflict.
A senior IDf official additionally singled out the feminine troopers in Oketz for risking their lives and distinguishing themselves in fight conditions.
Oketz additionally operates on the northern border and within the West Bank, particularly Tulkarem.
The 4 totally different capabilities of Oketz embrace discovering: hiding terrorists, weapons, bombs, and hostages/hostage stays.
