WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Tahrir Husni al-Arian, nine-months pregnant, could see pieces of her flesh falling to the ground as an Israeli combat dog savaged her thigh.
The Palestinian mother of three was at home with her husband and children in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip when the Israeli military invaded al-Manara, their neighborhood. It was 24 October 2024. 
The dog attack, which lasted about 10 minutes, left Arian in unbearable pain and caused complications that would last for months, ultimately leading to the loss of her newborn.  
Since then, the 34-year-old has been unable to return to her own home, grappling with deep trauma.  
In Khan Younis, she shared her harrowing account with Middle East Eye. 
The story began when her family returned to their home after numerous displacements since the war began last year.  
The area seemed safe, with no Zionist troops in sight, but that peace was shattered at around 8pm when the bombardment began.  
“They suddenly started shelling the area with missiles, and flares lit up the sky,” Arian told MEE.  
Unable to leave the building, Arian and her family took refuge in her brother-in-law’s apartment on the lower floor. Nearby homes were destroyed in the bombardment, including the home of the al-Farra family, and many neighbors lost their lives.
“We couldn’t do anything. We were trapped,” she recalls.
Arian, along with her husband, children, her pregnant sister, and brother-in-law, huddled together in the bathroom, keeping the lights off out of fear of being discovered or targeted.  
“We were scared to turn on any lights, thinking the drones would target us,” she explained. But then coming up the stairs they heard footsteps and voices.
Arian asked her husband what the sound was. “It’s the army,” he said.
But when the house suddenly lit up, they realized it wasn’t soldiers, but a dog, with a light and a camera on its head, entering each room in the house.  
“It came straight towards us in the bathroom,” Arian said.  
As the dog charged towards them, the family tried to slam the door shut, but it burst through. “It wasn’t a regular dog. It was huge, like a lion, all black,” she recalled.  
The dog broke through the door and attacked her 17-year-old sister, who was seven-months pregnant.  
“It tore her prayer dress, but thankfully, it left quickly.” But then, the dog came back.  
“I didn’t see it at first, but then I felt it sinking its teeth into my right thigh, clamping down while scratching me with its claws,” Arian continued.  
“My husband and the others tried to pull it off, but they couldn’t. It dragged me down the corridor, and I could feel pieces of my flesh falling as it bit into me.”