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Rescued and Reunited: Dog Kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 Returns Home
Billy was taken by Hamas from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Screenshot
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) helped reunite Billy, a dog kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with her family on Wednesday after discovering her in the southern Gaza Strip.
The three-and-a-half-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was identified via a microchip which helped reunite the animal with its owner, Rachel Dancyg. She is the ex-wife of Alex Dancyg, who was abducted by Hamas during the Oct.7 massacre and later killed in captivity. The IDF confirmed his death last year.
Rachel survived the Oct. 7 atrocities and managed to save her two granddaughters. However, her brother, Itzik Elgarat, was also abducted by Hamas and murdered in Gaza.
Months after Hamas’s onslaught, Rachel and her family continued searching for Billy, but they believed the dog had been killed after finding a blood stain in the house.
“My brother Itzik didn’t come back. And Alex didn’t come back. And here, this little dog, survived,” Rachel said after being reunited with Billy. “I hadn’t managed to get her into the safe room and I imagined that they’d [Hamas] killed her, because they killed all the dogs at Nir Oz.”
According to Israel’s Channel 12 news, Aviad Shapira, a reserve soldier in Golani’s 13th Battalion, found Billy when she emerged from the rubble after hearing soldiers speaking Hebrew.
“We had just conquered the Morag corridor in order to encircle Rafah. I went to the Namer [armored personnel carrier] and saw lovely Billie walking toward me,” Shapira told Channel 12, recounting her experience.
“She just ran up to me and jumped on me. I told myself that she would come with me to Israel and I really fought for her to come with me,” she continued.
Rachel’s family and friends were murdered on October 7.
Her dog Billy was kidnapped to Gaza.
For a year and a half, Rachel didn’t know if he was alive.
This week, an IDF reservist found him in Rafah.
Today, they were reunited.
pic.twitter.com/xfiKyGNUur
— Tamar Schwarzbard
In a statement, Rachel and her family expressed their gratitude to the IDF soldiers for bringing Billy home.
“We thank, from the bottom of our hearts, the Golani Brigades reservist who insisted on taking Billy with her and returning her to Israel,” the statement reads. “Thank you to all the heroic IDF combat soldiers, you showed us light amid the great darkness.”
A spokesperson for Nir Oz also praised Aviad and “all the heroic IDF soldiers” for bringing some hope and light to the community.
“Dogs are a family, and many of the dogs and other animals in our kibbutz were also kidnapped and murdered on Oct. 7,” the spokesperson said. “The great joy of the people of Israel in Billy’s return proves more than anything else how much we all need and wait for such miracles.”
“We still have 59 abductees in Gaza, 14 of them from Nir Oz, and we hope that the next miracle will come with the return of all of them.”
Since Hamas’s attack — in which the Palestinian terrorist group led the massacre of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 hostages — well over 100 captives have been released through negotiated ceasefire deals in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian detainees. The Israeli military has also rescued a smaller number through special operations
There are currently 59 hostages still in Hamas’s captivity in Gaza, with over half believed to be dead. As the second phase of the ceasefire agreement was never launched, Israel resumed its military campaign in the enclave to press Hamas into freeing the remaining Israeli hostages.
The latest round of talks in Cairo to restore the ceasefire failed to make any progress, as Hamas insisted that any agreement must lead to an end of the war in Gaza, while Israel maintained it would not cease fighting until Hamas is eliminated, with the terrorist group refusing to lay down its arms.
The post Rescued and Reunited: Dog Kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 Returns Home first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.