EMOTIONAL FAREWELL
Family attend funeral of Brit mum & 2 daughters killed in West Bank shooting as emotional mourners pay tribute
THE heartbroken family of a British mum who died in a terror attack in the West Bank attended her funeral in Kfar Etzion yesterday.
Hundreds of mourners gathered to pay tribute to Lucy Dee, 48, who died from injuries she sustained during the shooting which killed her daughters Rina, 15, and Maia, 20.
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Rabbi Leo Dee said his daughters were killed by 20 bullets from a Kalashnikov rifle and his wife was shot twice in the suspected terrorist shooting on Friday.
The funeral, held at the Kfar Etzion settlement south of Jerusalem on Tuesday, was packed with mourners who sang and swayed during the service.
Rabbi Dee, who was accompanied by his three remaining children, said: "Lucy, I have a choice: I could lament over the next 25 years of marriage that I've lost, but I actually feel blessed to have had 25 years of a beautiful marriage with you."
He added: "If we support the good and reject the evil, then we can all play our part in building a better world."
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Rabbi 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 and the family moved to Israel in 2014, according to .
They were both shot dead when their car was ambushed by gunmen as they were travelling to the Sea of Galilee for a holiday.
Their mum was airlifted to the hospital in a "very critical condition" but succumbed to her injuries three days later.
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Police reported the vehicle in which the family were travelling had been sprayed with assault rifle bullets, leaving blood spattered on the windscreen.
The UK Prime Minister said: "The killing of British-Israeli citizens, Maia, Rina and Lucy Dee is abhorrent.
"The UK condemns this appalling attack on civilians and I send my deepest condolences to Rabbi Dee and his family.
"We continue to urge all sides to de-escalate tensions in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and end the deadly cycle of violence."
The attack took place during a wave of violence across the region which has continued in recent days.
Israel's ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely said: "The whole of Israel stands united with Rabbi Leo Dee and his family, following the horrific murder of his wife and two daughters."
The distraught dad told a press conference broadcast on the BBC on Monday: "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."
He said that he saw a photograph on Instagram of his car with a bullet hole in it with the family's suitcases splattered with blood and drove "like a lunatic" to the scene.
He said that 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.
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."
Rabbi Dee described his wife and daughters as "three beautiful innocent young ladies in the prime of their lives" and urged people to post images of the Israeli flag on social media in their memory.
In footage from the funeral on Sunday broadcast on Sky News, Rabbi Dee said: "Maia and Rina, you have loved us, you have inspired us, and in turn we will love you forever.
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"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."
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