After attorney Raja Khatib’s family was killed in Saturday night’s Iranian attack, he was faced with an unimaginable grief that burdens families across Israel. The father of the family gave an emotional interview to N12, describing how he’d learned about his family’s demise and the extreme feeling of loss.

“I don’t wish this feeling on anyone,” he said to N12. “It happened in seconds — they didn’t have time to get to safety. It was all so sudden. I lost my family in an instant.” The bereaved husband and father described how, when arriving at the scene of the attack, alarms were already sounding. “I saw my daughter, she was coming out of the emergency room. She looked confused but was unharmed. I asked her where her mother and sisters were, and she said they didn’t have time to go down either.”

He described trying to reach his family to no avail, and not being able to as it was too late. "I tried to go upstairs, but I couldn’t. I realized they were gone," he said. "I don’t wish what I’m feeling right now on anyone, not even my worst enemy. It all happened in a matter of seconds."

Wife, daughters bodies remain trapped under rubble

His daughters and wife’s bodies remain trapped under rubble, with his family awaiting proper identification and proper burial. “We are just waiting for the bodies to be identified, so we can bury them with dignity,” Raja said.
An Israeli soldier stands near a damaged vehicle after missiles fired from Iran impacted a residential building, in Tamra, northern Israel June 15, 2025 (credit: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS)
An Israeli soldier stands near a damaged vehicle after missiles fired from Iran impacted a residential building, in Tamra, northern Israel June 15, 2025 (credit: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS)
The attack happened just days after the Khatib family returned from a vacation to Italy, unbeknownst to them, their final journey together. "We only came back to Israel three days ago," Raja recalled. "I took them to Italy to see my home, almost as if I was saying goodbye to them. I hugged them non-stop. Only Razan, our daughter who wasn’t with us, survived."

The pain stricken father said he wished they had stayed longer in Italy. “I wish we had been delayed one more day, and our flight had been canceled,” he said tearfully to interviewers. “I wish we had stayed there and avoided all of this.”

His daughter, Shada, was a law student at the University of Haifa, hoping to follow in her father’s footsteps. “She wanted to be like me,” he said. “She would always tell me, ‘Dad, you are my role model.’ She was only 20 years old, studying law at the University of Haifa.”

He also told interviewers of his final moments with his loved ones ahead of their death. “When the missiles started, Manur called Shada and asked her to come to be with us in Tamra so as to not be alone in Haifa. She came, and it was her fate. It was written.”

Though expressing his own unimaginable loss, he expressed condolences to all impacted by the strike in Bat Yam. “My heart aches for everyone who has been hurt,” he said. “These are hard days. There’s nothing left to do but hope that this will end soon.”