Soldiers in the IDF’s elite Oketz canine unit take a break with one of their dogs. Photo: IDF via Wikimedia Commons.

Soldiers of the IDF’s Oketz canine special forces unit came together this week for an annual gathering to pay tribute to dogs killed in operational activities, the Hebrew news site Mako reported on Wednesday.

“They are an inseparable part of the unit,” Maj. A. — the commander of the Oketz training base – was quoted as saying. “We are nothing without them, as they are without us.”

Maj. A. recalled a dog named Solo who was killed during the Gaza war of the summer of 2014. Solo, Maj. A. said, was accompanying a group of Givati Brigade soldiers. “Solo went down to check a basement, there was a terrorist there who detonated an explosive device,” Maj. A. continued. “The dog and the terrorist were killed — but the Givati force was saved.”

“The bond between a fighter and his dog is the strongest there is,” Maj. A. said.