Camera footage from a dog from the Oketz military canine unit that was killed by Hamas terrorists revealed new details about the tragic killing of three hostages last week in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of northern Gaza. Channel 12 News reported that an IDF investigation revealed that five days before the hostages were killed, Golani soldiers sent the dog to search a building for terrorists. The hostages were in that building, and one of the hostages, Alon Shamriz, z’l, who was a combat soldier in the Yalam unit and was familiar with the role of the Oketz dogs, yelled at the camera attached to the dog: “We’re Israeli hostages here! Help! There are hostages here.” The dog was later killed by Hamas terrorists in a gun battle with IDF soldiers, which ended with the deaths of the terrorists. When the hostages realized that the terrorists holding them had been killed, they escaped the building. The investigation showed that the hostages walked about a kilometer away from the building. The place where they hung the SOS sign was near the area where they were killed. IDF forces were only able to retrieve the dog’s body and examine the camera footage this past Monday, three days after the hostages were killed. Soldiers testified that the hostages were wearing Adidas sweatpants and had long beards – which played a role in the soldiers’ suspicions that they were terrorists. The IDF noted that there are no images of the hostages on the camera footage but only the sound of their voices. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)