The two British-Israeli sisters killed in a West Bank shooting earlier this week have been named as the daughters of a Londonrabbi.
Maia and Rina Dee were shot dead on Friday afternoon near the Hamra Junction in the north of the Jordan Valley, as they drove to Tiberias.
Rabbi Leo Dee, originally from London, has described the deaths of his daughters as a “nightmare”.
Their mother, Leah, remains in a critical condition in hospital.
Their car was driven off the road after being shot at by gunmen while their father had been driving ahead in a separate vehicle.
Rabbi Dee told the BBC that his daughters were “beautiful and wonderful” and that he hadn’t slept since their deaths.
“Every time, I had nightmares and woke up,” he said, “but the reality was worse than the nightmare, so I went back to sleep. That’s how it went.”
The family live in the West Bank settlement Efrat. The sisters’ funeral will be held on Sunday.
Maia was 20 years old and volunteering for national service in a high school, while sister Rina was 15.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described the incident as a terror attack, sent his condolences to the family in a tweet naming the sisters.
The UK’s chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, said that “no words can describe the depth of our shock and sadness at the heart-breaking news”.
Writing on Twitter, he said the two sisters were the children of British Rabbi Dee and his wife Lucy, which is understood to be their mother Leah’s English name.
“They were much loved in the Hendon and Radlett communities in the UK as well as in Israel, and well beyond,” he added.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said they were “deeply shocked and saddened” at their deaths, adding that their father had previously been rabbi at Radlett United Synagogue in Hertfordshire.
