On May 2, 2004 - Iyar 11, 5764 - two terrorists ambushed Hatuel's car near the Kissufim crossing, Haaretz reported at the time. The terrorists killed them all at point-blank range, shooting them repeatedly, witnesses were quoted as saying.
According to BBC and Arutz 7 reports, Hatuel was 34-years-old. Her four murdered daughters were between the ages of 11 and two years old. The family were on their way to meet her husband David. She was reportedly planning to to join a demonstration against the disengagement of Gush Katif slated for 2005, which was being voted upon at the time of her death.
As the attack unfolded, the terrorists shot at her vehicle, forcing her off the road. Hatuel was seriously wounded in , the news agency said. Seconds later, the terrorists, who were armed with Kalashnikov rifles, approached the car and fired at the mother and her daughters, emptying their cartridges.
IDF forces soon arrived in the area and a gun battle ensued in which soldiers were lightly wounded. The IDF soldiers managed to kill the terrorists.
The Hatuel family lived in the community of Moshav Katif in the Gaza Strip's Gush Katif. Tali was a beloved and dedicated social worker, who worked with victims of terrorism, and David was the principal of an elementary school in Ashkelon, according to Arutz 7.
David is now the president of OneFamily, an organization that works with terror victims and families affected by terrorism. In December 2015, he remarried and today he has five children.
Speaking at a OneFamily event several years ago, David said that "my new home is an addition and not a replacement of the home that was destroyed."
Referring to his late first wife and children, he said, "my wife and children live inside me. I am like a tree whose branches were cut off and now they are growing again."