Israeli security forces have killed the suspected gunmen who were responsible for the murder of a British-Israeli mother and her two daughters last month. The three Palestinian men were killed in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, confirmed that the operatives were the killers of Lucy, Maia, and Rina Dee.
Lucy Dee, 48, was killed alongside Rina, 15, and Maia, 20, when their car was shot at in the Jordan Valley last April. The sisters were killed instantly, while their mother died in hospital several days later. They had been on a family outing during the Passover holiday. The council of Efrat, the Israeli settlement in the West Bank where they lived, issued a statement condemning the attack.
The Al Qassam Brigade, the militant wing of Hamas, issued a statement naming the three men killed on Thursday as Hassan Qatanani, Muath al-Masri, and Ibrahim Jaber. The brigade called them "heroes of the Jordan Valley operation" carried out last month "in response to the occupation’s crimes against Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the assault on Muslim women.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also released the same names for the men killed in Nablus, and confirmed they had been located following "an extensive ISA (Israel Security Agency) and IDF intelligence and operational effort". According to the IDF, both of the terrorists were killed during an exchange of fire, along with Ibrahim Jaber, a senior operative who aided the two terrorists. Two M-16 rifles and an AK-47 were found in the apartment where the men were discovered.
At the time of their deaths, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the killings as a "heinous attack" by "terrorists" and instructed Israeli police "to mobilize all border police units in reserve and the IDF to mobilize additional forces". Thousands of mourners attended the Dee family's funerals.
A statement issued by the Dee family on Thursday said they were "delighted to hear that the terrorists were eliminated today". They added that "most of all, it was done in a way that apparently did not endanger the lives of Israeli soldiers, because that was one of the most important things from our family’s perspective”.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant praised the security forces for neutralizing the terrorists who conducted the attack and said "Israel’s defense establishment will reach any terrorist that harms our citizens".