Dad's pain as 'family of seven now four' after mum and daughters die in shooting
The father of two British-Israeli sisters who were killed during a shooting in the occupied West Bank on Friday has spoken of his pain after his wife, who was injured and taken to hospital, died after an operation.
Leo Dee, 51, quit his job as an investment banker in London to become a rabbi and move to Israel with his family.
Last week, his daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 16, were killed when their car was shot at near the Hamra settlement, located 30 miles north of Jerusalem.
His wife Lucy, 48, was airlifted from the car and taken to the hospital, but following an operation to remove two bullets from her head and spine, she died today.
Lucy Dee died after an operation today, the hospital confirmedHadassah-University Medical Center said in a statement: "48-year-old Lucy Dee was evacuated by helicopter to Hadassah Ein Kerem in critical condition, where the teams fought for her life over the past few days, in the trauma unit, the operating room and the intensive care unit where she was treated.
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"Unfortunately, despite intensive and unceasing efforts, due to her fatal injury, the team had to determine her death today."
During a press conference from the Erfat Settlement, Mr Dee said his family of seven has now become a family of four.
He said he found a missed call from his daughter Maia that he had not heard before discovering their car had been attacked.
Mr Dee said: "I hadn't noticed it ring, I hadn't picked up the phone, the feeling she called me during the attack and I wasn't able to speak to her will come back and haunt me for a while."
Mr Dee's daughters Maia and Rina and wife Lucy diedHe identified his daughter at the scene after police produced her identity card, before driving to the hospital where his wife had been taken for an operation.
He explained: "I went numb. I didn't cry yet, I was highly rational. I drove another hour and a half to the hospital.
"Lucy had had two bullets - one through the brain stem and one lodged at the top of her spine.
"There was an operation. There was reason for hope. But alas our family of seven is now a family of four."
At a funeral service for his daughters yesterday, Mr Dee said he hopes their memory will be kept alive.
Following the death of Mrs Dee, the family said they want to donate her organs to save the lives of others, according to The Jerusalem Post.
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Family members mourn next to the bodies of Maya and Rina Dee (ABIR SULTAN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)Mrs Dee's death comes as Israeli forces killed 15-year-old Palestinian boy Mohammad Fayez Balhan, who was shot in the head, chest and stomach in the Aqabet Jaber refugee camp in Jericho.
The teenager's aunt Maysoon said: "They shot him in the head. What is going to happen to our people? What will happen to us?"
The shooting came as thousands of Israelis led by at least seven Cabinet ministers marched to an evacuated settlement in the territory.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. It has built dozens of settlements in the territory that are now home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers.
Most of the international community considers Israel's West Bank settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem for their future independent state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has made settlement expansion a top priority.
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