Tali Hatuel

Hila, Hadar, Roni, and Merav

May 2, 2004 - Tali Hatuel, 34, and her daughters - Hila, 11, Hadar, 9, Roni, 7, and Merav, 2 - of Katif in the Gaza Strip were killed when two Palestinian terrorists fired on their car a few kilometers from their home. Tali was 8 months pregnant.

Tali Hatuel and her four daughters were killed when two Palestinian terrorists fired on their car a few kilometers from their home. Their white Citroen station wagon spun off the road after the initial shooting, then, the attackers approached the vehicle and shot the occupants dead at point blank range.

After riddling the car with gunfire, the two terrorists then ran up to the vehicle and cold-bloodedly pumped bullets into each of their victims' heads to make sure they had finished the job, Israeli police said.

Israeli troops who rushed to the scene killed the two terrorists, who were identified as residents of the southern Gaza town of Rafah. In a call to the Associated Press, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the attack. (The Popular Resistance Committees are linked to the Fatah faction led by Yasser Arafat).

As a social worker for the Gaza Coast Regional Council, it was Tali who would comfort families of terror victims on the death of their loved ones. Tali was eight months pregnant, and was looking forward to the birth of her first son.

Standing over the shrouded bodies of his wife and daughters, David Hatuel asked for their forgiveness for spending so much time away from home lobbying against the plan to pull out from Gaza. "On Friday the girls drew me a picture and wrote 'Daddy, we are proud of what you are doing for the home where we were born'," he said.

 "You were my flowers and I will not forget you," he said, and added, "Tali was a woman of valor. All the responsibility for the family was on her shoulders."

Tali Hatuel and her four daughters - Hila, Hadar, Roni, and Merav - were laid to rest side by side in Ashkelon. They are survived by husband and father David Hatuel, Tali's parents, two sisters, Orit and Sigalit, and brother, Yuval.