I’m delighted, says Rabbi as killers shot dead
A BRITISH-ISRAELI rabbi said yesterday that he was “delighted” at the “neutralisation” of Hamas operatives who killed his wife and daughters.
Israeli special forces hunted down and killed two Palestinian gunmen wanted for shooting the three women in April, during a raid on militant groups in the northern West Bank.
A third gunman was also killed during the raid, in the city of Nablus, according to a joint statement by the Israeli army and security services that said all three were members of Hamas, the Islamist group.
Lucy Dee and two of her daughters, Maia and Rina, were shot dead in their car by Palestinian gunmen on April 7 as they drove through the Jordan Valley on a family trip. Israeli officials yesterday named the three slain gunmen as Hassan Katnani, Moaz Masri and Ibrahim Hura. The suspects were killed by Israel’s Yamam special forces unit during the raid.
Rabbi Leo Dee, the victims’ husband and father, said: “I and the kids were delighted to hear that the terrorists were neutralised and eliminated today, and most of all that it was done in a way that apparently did not endanger the lives of Israeli soldiers.
“Because that was one of the most important things from our family’s perspective.”
The three Dee family members were killed during the Passover holiday season as they travelled through the occupied West Bank from their home in the settlement of Efrat towards the city
of Tiberias. The family moved to Israel from the UK nine years ago.
Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, died at the scene of the attack while their mother, Lucy, 48, was taken to hospital and later died of her injuries. More than 20 bullet casings were found at the scene, apparently from a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Lucy Dee’s organs, including her heart and lungs, were donated to five Israeli citizens after her death, allowing life-saving transplants.
Israel had been carrying out a manhunt for the Dee family’s killers for weeks. Nablus is a major flashpoint in the northern West Bank and scene of multiple Israeli raids targeting Palestinian militant groups over the past year.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, said Israel had “settled accounts”.
He added: “Our message to those who harm us, and those who want to harm us, is that whether it takes a day, a week or a month – you can be certain that we will settle accounts with you.
“It does not matter where you try to hide – we will find you. Whoever attacks us will pay the price.”