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Tali Hatuel, 34, and (clockwise) her daughters Hila (11), Hadar (9), Roni (7) and Merav (2).(Photos: Katif.net)
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The wounded soldiers were airlifted by an army helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva. (Channel One television)
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The killing took place on the Gaza side of the Kissufim Crossing, the main entry to the Israeli Gush Katif bloc (Graphic: Israel's Story in Maps)
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| By israelinsider staff May 2, 2004 |
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An Israeli woman in her eighth month of pregnancy and her four daughters were killed this afternoon when two terrorists opened fire at Israeli cars traveling on the Kissufim-Gush Katif road in the Gaza Strip. Soldiers shot the terrorists dead, but only after an explosive device at the scene detonated, wounding three soldiers, two of them with moderate-to-serious injuries.
The victims of the attack were identified as Tali Hatuel, 34, and her daughters Hila (11), Hadar (9), Roni (7) and Merav (2). Tali's husband was not in the car at the time of the attack, ynet reported. The Hatuels lived on the Gush Katif settlement of Katif.
The Hamas terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the terror attack, Channel Ten television reported. Palestinian sources said, however, that the attack was a joint effort of Islamic Jihad and the Fatah's Popular Resistance Committees, media sources reported.
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Police said the terrorists hit Tali Hatuel as she drove, causing her car to swerve from the road, then approached the car and executed her and her children at close range.
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The attack occurred when the two gunmen, apparently residents of Dir el-Balah, began firing at Israeli cars on the road. Police said the mother was shot, causing the Hatuel's white Citroen to swerve off the road. The attackers approached the vehicle and shot the mother and her children with "killing shots" at close range. At least one civilian in another car was also injured.
An IDF jeep arrived on the scene and soldiers engaged the terrorists in a gun battle, eventually managing to kill them. Three soldiers were injured by an explosive device; it is not yet clear if this was a bomb or a grenade hurled at them, news sources reported.
The wounded soldiers were airlifted by an army helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva.
The terror attack occurred on the day when Likud Party members are voting in a referendum whether to approve Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
Supporters of the disengagement plan said the terror attack only emphasized the reasons Israel should withdraw from the Gaza Strip, ynet reported.
However, Channel Two Arab Affairs correspondent quoted Palestinian sources as saying the attack was intended to accelerate the departure of Israelis from the Gaza Strip.
MK Michael Ratzon (Likud), a leading opponent of disengagement, said that Hamas and Islamic Jihad were doing all they could to prove that Israel was withdrawing from Gaza under fire. Ratzon warned that if disengagement was implemented, the terrorists who launched today's terror attack would end up living in the very house of the family that they had murdered.
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