Gaza: stray dogs prey on calves in nearby Israeli settlements

Stray dogs from Gaza are reported to be attacking calves in Jewish settlements surrounding the besieged Palestinian territory, as Israel’s ongoing genocidal war limits the amount of food available for the animals in Gaza itself.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth on Monday, the current threats facing the residents of settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip do not come from Hamas, but from stray dogs, which “the war has turned into feral animals [that] have recently preyed on at least six calves” in Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

Israeli law prohibits the killing of feral dogs. The newspaper quoted a kibbutz official as saying — “with regret” — that, “Killing Arabs is permissible, but killing dogs is forbidden.”

Kibbutz officials have now established a “feeding station” for the dogs, which are captured and handed over to veterinarians. Additional feeding stations will be established in the kibbutz to protect the calves and the residents from the hungry dogs of Gaza.

The kibbutz barn houses 400 dairy cows, about a quarter of which were affected by the 7 October Hamas attack, said the newspaper. Some were killed, injured or traumatised and stopped providing milk.

The attack also affected the new milking institute, inaugurated in June, which was partially burned, while the milk storage tank was hit by bullets. The newspaper reported that the kibbutz has lost around one and a half million shekels (about $400,000) in milk production since October.

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