Two British-Israeli sisters have been killed and their mother badly injured in a gun attack on their car in the West Bank. The attack took place near an Israeli settlement in the Jordan Valley and the girls’ father witnessed the incident from a separate car following behind, local officials said.
On a bloody day in the Israel-Palestine dispute, there was further bloodshed in Tel Aviv when at least one person was killed and six others – including British citizens – were wounded when a car was driven into a number of people in Tel Aviv.
The family of the two sisters killed in the West Bank were residents of the Efrat settlement, near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, according to Oded Revivi, the settlement’s mayor. He said: “With great sorrow we received an update on a shocking terrorist attack in which terrorists shot a car including a mother and her two daughters, residents of Efrat.
“The two girls were murdered and the mother is in (a) critical condition and we all pray for her quick recovery. The father of the family who drove in another car from the front turned around and witnessed the efforts to take care of his wife and daughters.”
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said: “I am shocked by reports of the killing of two British sisters in an appalling and cowardly attack in the West Bank. More civilian victims of this cycle of violence show the urgent need for diplomatic efforts to de-escalate.”
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly had earlier called for calm after Israel launched strikes in southern Lebanon and bombed targets in the Gaza Strip in retaliation over rocket attacks. The cross-border fighting, while Jews are celebrating the Passover holiday and Muslims are marking Ramadan, erupted following violent scenes at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon came after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there. The Israeli military said it targeted installations of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Lebanon.
The attack in Tel Aviv saw a driver ram into a group of people near a popular seaside park in the city, which is Israel’s commercial hub, police said. Israel’s rescue service said a 30-year-old Italian tourist was killed and five other Italian and British citizens – including a 74-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl – received mild to moderate injuries.
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Mr Cleverly said both sides in the Israel-Palestine dispute should “recommit themselves to a negotiated settlement”. He said: “Now is the time for all parties across the region to de-escalate tensions. At the convergence of Passover, Ramadan and Easter, the UK calls for all parties to respect the historic status quo arrangements at Jerusalem’s holy sites and cease all provocative action.
“The UK is a strong supporter of freedom of religion or belief and calls for places of worship to be respected. We value Jordan’s important role as custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem and condemns the Israeli police violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“When Israeli security forces conduct operations, they must ensure they are proportionate and in accordance with international law.”
In Jerusalem, violence flared again at the Al-Aqsa Mosque before dawn prayers, with Israeli police stationed at one of the gates forcibly dispersing vast crowds of worshippers who chanted praise for Hamas. Human rights campaign group Amnesty International UK criticised Mr Cleverly’s response.
The charity’s Kristyan Benedict said: “James Cleverly’s belated response to shocking Israeli violence against Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque isn’t just weak and tokenistic – it’s also dangerously misguided because it effectively isolates individual incidents of violence from the overall context, which is decades of apartheid, occupation and systematic injustice against the Palestinian people."
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