“Israeli Military Dog Attacked Me While Asleep and Viciously Bit My Shoulder”

Dawlat ‘Abdullah Mohammed al-Tanani (58) from northern Gaza’s refugee camps

I live on the ground floor in a 90-sqm 3-story house belonging to my brother, Maher ‘Abdullah Mohammed al-Tanani.  Last May, the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) moved into Jabalia Refugee Camp, so my brother fled with his family to another area due to the brutal and indiscriminate bombardment on Jabalia.  However, I refused to leave and stayed home alone, and there is our neighbor and relative, Jaber ‘Atiyah al-Tanani (60), who lives next-door with his 22-year-old son, Mohammed Jaber ‘Atiyah al-Tanani.

During the incursion, Jaber and his son came to stay with me in the house because I was all alone; they arrived at 10:00 on Tuesday, 14 May 2024.   We all stayed in the same room while hearing the Israeli brutal bombardment in our area amid the harrowing roaring of nearby Israeli military vehicles and tanks. In the afternoon, I performed ‘Isha prayer and went to sleep while my 2 relatives were with me in the same room. Only few minutes later at around 22:00, I heard the Israeli soldiers exploding the house fence overlooking Jaber ‘Atiyah al-Tanani’s house and suddenly an Israeli military dog raided the house and attacked me while I was asleep in my bed.  The dog viciously bit my shoulder and hands and broke my right shoulder’s skin until his teeth reached my shoulder’s bone and fractured it.  I could not defend myself and push the dog off, so it dragged me all the way outside the room.  I was crying and screaming so loud while I could hear the Israeli soldiers outside the room laughing and mocking me in Hebrew because the dog mauled me. And just when it has become more dangerous that the dog was about to kill me, my relative Jaber, who is wounded but before the war in his right leg with internal platinum implant, intervened and hit the dog with his axillary crutch, trying to move it away while I was screaming in pain.

The dog was so wild and ferocious that could kill me.  Jaber then asked his son Mohammed to grab my body and pull it out of the dog’s mouth.  He managed to pull me away and tried to close the room’s door, shouting, “we are defenseless civilians and old lady Dwlat is wounded, bleeding and might die if you do not bring an ambulance. Please, I beg you, call an ambulance.” Afterwards, we closed the door and I continued to bleed while my bones hurt me so much that I could not move at all.  My relative, Jaber, and his son then wrapped my injury with my headscarf, trying to stop the bleeding. 

I was in so much pain crying and begging the soldiers outside to provide me aid while they kept laughing and mocking me.

Meanwhile, the Israeli brutal bombardment did not stop as well as the artillery shelling that was pounding everywhere in the area.   we stayed like that until at 08:00 the next day, Wednesday, when my relative, Jaber and his son, Mohammed, carried me out of the house after losing a lot of my blood.  First, they took me to Yemen Sa’id Hospital, where doctors wrapped my injury and told me that I need an immediate medical intervention, saying, “your shoulder bone is severely smashed.  you are critically injured and we do not have any equipment at the hospital.”   so, we headed to Kamal ‘Odwan Hospital, where we did not find any doctors nor medications as the hospital has been already out of service.  Afterwards, an ambulance took us to al-‘Awda Hospital, which was besieged by IOF. However, the hospital provided me first aid and gave me painkillers to relieve the injury’s pain.  They placed a removable splint on my arm as my shoulder was severely injured. Afterwards, we went to a relative’s house in Beer al-Na’jah area, western Jabalia refugee camp.

Following the latest attack on Jabalia refugee camp, we returned there to check on our house but we found it bombed and completely destroyed by IOF, rendering us homeless.  I am currently displaced in al-Karamah area, ‘Amer Housing Project, with my brother, Maher ‘Abdullah al-Tanani and his family in a relative’s house. I am still suffering from severe pain in my shoulder and hand and in a drastic mental state. 

Note: Al-Jazeera has obtained a video showing an Israeli military dog attacking an old Palestinian woman.  The leaked video was captured by a camera mounted onto the dog.