Rachel Kol

July 23, 2005 - Rachel Kol, 53, of Jerusalem and her husband Dov were killed late Saturday night near the Kissufim crossing in the southern Gaza Strip while returning home from visiting family in Gush Katif.

Dov and Rachel had spent Shabbat with Rachel's sister in Ganei Tal where the whole family celebrated the recent birth of the Kols' first granddaughter, Hallel. They were returning home when the terrorists opened fire on the couple's car near the Gush Katif junction. Both were killed. Three others were wounded. The Islamic Jihad and Fatah al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rachel had worked for the last 20 years as a technician in the neurology laboratory at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem.

The Kols met in tragic circumstances. Dov was widowed 20 years ago. His first wife, Hani, was Rachel's best friend. "Rachel looked after Hani devotedly until the day she died in 1985. After this tragedy Dov and Rachel drew gradually closer until in July 1986 they were married," said a friend of the couple. Together they raised Hani's daughter, Hila, and their two children, Tamar and Yonatan.

Rachel's sister, Ilana, said, "This family is an amazing combination of everything, right and left, religious and secular, in the united and fully appreciative way that the State of Israel should be. They were an outstanding example of how this country's diverse groups should get along."

Rachel Kol was buried alongside her husband Dov in Jerusalem's Har Hamenuhot Cemetery. She is survived by daughters Hila, 24, and Tamar, 17, son Yonatan, 15, and newborn granddaughter, Hallel, Hila's daughter. Rachel is also survived by her parents, six sisters, and a brother.