"We have decided to revise our operations and will now send dogs first
and then soldiers," a senior naval officer said.
Over the last year, the Navy has encountered numerous attempts by
Western and Islamic groups to send ships to break the Israeli naval siege on the Gaza Strip, Middle East Newsline reported. Virtually all of the attempts failed without bloodshed.
The sources said the navy would receive dogs from a unit that operate
with the infantry. They said the dogs were ready for operations in 2010, but have not been used amid assessments that the interception operations would face significant resistance.
"We did not want news photographs of dogs biting passengers if we could
avoid it," the officer said. "We now see that there are situations when the
dogs will save both our lives and those of those of the other side."
The military canines from the Oketz unit have been trained to bite
resistors. The dogs were trained to intensify their bite in case the target resist.
"The dogs will cause pain but won't kill," the officer said.