The mother of two British-Israeli sisters who were killed last week in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank has died of her wounds, hospital officials said on Monday.
Maia and Rina Dee, 20 and 15, were killed on Friday when their car was shot at by a suspected Palestinian gunman. Their mother, Lucy, was in the car with them and was critically wounded and has been in a coma since.
On Monday it was confirmed Lucy had succumbed to her injuries.
Her husband Rabbi Leo Dee told a press conference his daughters Rina and Maia were killed by 20 bullets from a Kalashnikov rifle and Lucy was shot twice.
He said he found out his daughters died at the scene of the attack before driving to the hospital where his wife had been taken.
He said: “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.”
Israeli forces are still trying to track down the assailant.
In a statement published by the Jerusalem Post, a spokesman for the hospital said: “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.
“Unfortunately, despite intensive and unceasing efforts, due to her fatal injury, the team had to determine her death today.”
The hospital added that the Dee family has decided to donate Lucy’s organs in order to save the lives of others.
The funerals for Maia and Rina were held on Sunday, with thousands of mourners in attendance .
In his eulogy Rabbi Dee asked: “How will I explain to Lucy what has happened to our two precious gifts, Maia and Rina, when she wakes up from her coma?”
The family had moved to Israel nine years ago from the UK, where Leah’s husband had served as a rabbi in north London.
Mr Dee, who quit his job as an investment banker to become a rabbi and move to Israel, said the family feels “diminished” after his daughters died.
He told the Mail on Sunday: “My daughters were friends of each other as well as sisters. Now we are diminished. Maia was doing national service in the south, and was passionate about helping others. Rina is what you would call an A* pupil. We were proud of them.”
