Palestinian rocket attacks couldn’t keep an Israeli and her furry friend apart for long!
By: United Hatzalah
Just before a barrage of missiles was fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip by Hamas terrorists on Monday and just before the air raid sirens began to blare, Sderot resident Hila Galilee went out walking with her dog Toffy.
To their surprise, a heavy barrage of rockets was flying toward the city while they were on their walk. Toffy got scared and sprinted off. Galilee was forced to take shelter and then return home without Toffy. She was devastated as she told her two daughters, Adele and Batya, by what had transpired.
Galilee published a public notice on social media with Toffy’s description and asked anyone who found her to bring back the beloved pet.
Moshe Weizman, a volunteer EMT with United Hatzalah saw the post. Weizman was dispatched as part of the reinforcements that the rescue organization sent to the area around the Gaza Strip in order to provide extra services and emergency care to the towns that were hit by the rockets.
Moshe saw the dog running wild and immediately contacted the city’s emergency hotline. The operators at the hotline got in touch with Galilee. Galilee was ecstatic upon receiving the beloved family pet back safe and sound.
An Emotional Reunification
“I was out walking Toffy and throwing out the trash when the rocket fire began,” Galilee recalled.
“Toffy panicked and began running as fast as she could. I thought she had run home but when I got there I discovered that she had run off. We waited for an hour or two for her to come back, but due to the rockets, we decided to head north and go to my in-laws in the center of the country. I posted Toffy’s description online, and sometime around midnight on Monday night I got a call from the city’s hotline telling me that Moshe, a volunteer from United Hatzalah had found my dog.”
“I want to thank the city hotline operators and United Hatzalah who returned Toffy to our family,” she added.
Weizman met with Galilee and her two daughters on Tuesday to return the dog.
“The girls were very emotional and thanked me profusely for bringing back their dog,” said Weizman during the tearful meeting.
“I live in Ashdod. Due to the increase in violence in the area, I came down to Sderot to help out with one of the ambulance crews that the organization sent to reinforce the work that the local volunteers do for the residents,” he added.
“Once the people at the hotline got in touch with the family, we put the dog in the ambulance and headed directly for their home to bring back their dog. The young girls were sleeping when I brought back their dog and thus there was no time for them to see each other or for me to stay because we got another emergency call just as I was walking in. We, therefore, arranged to meet today properly after things calmed down.”
“The girls were overjoyed that they had Toffy back now. Yesterday while she was missing they were distraught, now they smile again thanks to the great work of these volunteers,” Galilee concluded.
