New video footage published Wednesday shows how during their Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Hamas fighters abducted Mia Leimberg – with her pet dog, Bella, in tow.
In video obtained by the Israeli news outlet Kann, Leimberg can be seen in the bed of a pickup truck with her mother, Gabriela, and the family's Shih Tzu as the gunmen drive them through the streets of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, not far from the Gaza border.
Mia carried Bella in a blanket and went on to guard the pooch from the terrorists as the three of them remained hostage for weeks before their release during last month's temporary ceasefire.
Mia previously told Israeli outlet Ynet that when one of the militants questioned her about the dog, she defiantly answered, “It’s mine!”
On Wednesday, the teen also described to Reuters how Bella provided “moral support” during the ordeal and recalled how she stuffed the dog under her clothes as they were taken out of their kibbutz, out of fear she would be left behind amid the violence.
“It was difficult. I held her all the way there. It was an extra four kilos,” Leimberg recalled, Bella in her arms.
“And I'm just lucky enough that I managed to keep her through that whole situation and bring her back.”
Mia said for some time, her captors did not even know they had a dog in their custody.
“Luckily for me, Bella is unlike all the other small dogs that I personally know, she is rather quiet, unless when she is playing or mad,” she said.
Mia and Gabriela were among the more than 100 hostages freed during a weeklong cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that ended on Friday. Over 1,200 people were killed on Oct. 7 and, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, another 16,200 since.
Some 137 hostages are believed by Israel to remain in Gaza, including Mia's uncle and her aunt’s partner.
