Mother of British-Israeli girls killed in West Bank attack dies in hospital

Lucy Dee had been seriously injured in attack on car near Israeli settlement in West Bank on Friday

Lucy Dee with her daughters Rina and Maia. photo: @netanyahu / twitter

A mother who had been injured in an attack in the West Bank has died after the death of her two British-Israeli daughters in the same incident, the hospital treating her has announced.

Lucy Dee's death comes only a day after the funeral of her daughters Rina, 15, and Maia, 20, with all three having been described as “idealistic, pure-hearted and kind”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the British Jewish community have offered their condolences to the family.

Mr Netanyahu posted on Twitter: “On behalf of all the citizens of Israel, I send my heartfelt condolences to the Dee family on the death of the mother of the family, the late Leah [Lucy], who was murdered in the severe attack in the Bekaa last Friday, along with her two daughters Maya and the late Rina.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews posted: “Our hearts go out to the Dee family at the terrible news that Lucy Dee has now also passed away after the Palestinian terror attack on Friday that killed two of her daughters, Maia and Rina. May their memories be for eternal blessing.”

Ms Dee, 45, had been seriously injured in the attack on their car near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank on Friday.

On Monday, Israel’s Hadassah hospital announced that she had died after being in a critical condition, according to reports by AP.

Her husband, Rabbi Leo Dee, was formerly the senior rabbi at Radlett United Synagogue in Hertfordshire and assistant rabbi in Hendon, north London.

The sisters were born in London, before the family moved to Israel in 2014, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The Radlett United Synagogue released a statement to the PA news agency saying: “The Radlett Jewish community is devastated at the terrible news of Rebbetzen Lucy Dee’s passing, in addition to the deaths of her and Rabbi Leo Dee’s daughters, Maia and Rina.

“The community greatly admired the inspiring Dee family during their time at Radlett. Lucy and her daughters were idealistic, pure-hearted and kind.

“We and the world have been robbed of their presence, but their light can never be extinguished. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Rabbi Leo and his children, Keren, Tali and Yehudah.”

The family lived in the Efrat settlement, near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the settlement’s mayor Oded Revivi said.

The three family members were among six people caught up in the attack.

The family were travelling in one of three cars on their way to Tiberias in Galilee for a family holiday.

In footage from the funeral, Rabbi Dee said: “Maia and Rina, you have loved us, you have inspired us, and in turn we will love you forever.

“May your souls be bound in the bond of eternal life.

“And may we, and no one else in the world, ever know so much sorrow.”

Rabbi Dee told a press conference in Erfat Settlement in the West Bank, that his daughters Rina and Maia were killed by 20 bullets from a Kalashnikov rifle and his wife Lucy was shot twice.

He said he had been informed of an attack and called his family before realising he had received a missed call from his daughter Maia.

“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 Rabbi Dee said.

He said that he saw a photograph on Instagram of his car with a bullet hole in it, with the family’s suitcases with blood on them, and drove “like a lunatic” to the scene.

He was able to identify his daughter Maia at the scene after police produced her identity card, and he then drove to the hospital where his wife had been taken.

“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 brainstem 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.”