Petel, an 11-year-old Labrador mix that saved her family during the October 7th massacre, has passed away peacefully eight months later, the New York Post reported.
Petel lived with the Ben-Zvi family in Be’eri, one of the towns most damaged by the attack. As Hamas terrorists broke through the kitchen window of their house, Petel began barking frantically from the bomb shelter.
Her cries were picked up by a baby monitor connected to the household stereo system, which amplified the barking and frightened the terrorists so badly that they fled the house.
Ela Ben-Zvi notes that the same squad killed the families in two nearby houses. “It’s safe to assume her presence saved our lives.”
“We couldn’t carry her because I had one kid on my back and was dragging another, my husband was holding the youngest and the backpack with one set of clothes each, and the soldiers couldn’t carry the pooch and protect the family at the same time.”
Forced to flee the town under fire, the family locked Petel in a room with food and water, hoping to return in short order. Despite their precautions, Petel was found the next day at Be’eri’s main gate, nursing a broken leg and shrapnel wounds. IDF soldiers gave her first aid and brought her for more extensive surgeries in a Rehovot veterinary clinic.
The Ben-Zvis, originally evacuated to a hotel near the Dead Sea, were reunited with Petel upon moving to a new home with a yard in March. She passed away peacefully last week.