Two British-Israeli sisters, Maya and Rina Dee, were tragically killed in a shooting in the occupied West Bank on Friday. Their mother, Leah, was also injured in the attack and remains in a critical condition in hospital.
The family, originally from London, had been travelling to Tiberias when their car was driven off the road after being shot at by gunmen. The father, a well-known rabbi, had been driving ahead in a separate vehicle.
The incident occurred hours after Israeli warplanes carried out air strikes in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip on targets belonging to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. This was in response to a barrage of 34 rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Thursday, which Israel blamed on the group.
The rocket barrage from Lebanon followed two nights of Israeli police raids at the al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, which caused anger across the region. Hamas did not claim responsibility for the shooting of the British-Israeli women but praised it as “a natural response to [Israel’s] ongoing crimes against the al-Aqsa mosque and its barbaric aggression against Lebanon and the steadfast Gaza”.
In response to the news of the sisters’ deaths, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted his condolences and described the incident as a terror attack. The UK Foreign Office also released a statement saying: “We are saddened to hear about the deaths of two British-Israeli citizens and the serious injuries sustained by a third individual.”
On the same day, an Italian tourist was killed and seven other people were wounded, including three Britons, in a suspected car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv. In light of these events, Israel Police commissioner Kobi Shabtai called on all Israelis with firearms licences to start carrying their weapons.
The tragic deaths of Maya and Rina Dee have sent shockwaves throughout both Britain and Israel, and have highlighted the ongoing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. Our thoughts are with their family at this difficult time.