As they painted their nails and curled their eyelashes for the end of Ramadan, family and friends in Sahira and Hadeel's Beauty Salon were not too worried when they heard the faint sound of sirens in the distance.
Instead, the women continued their preparations for Eid, believing there was little chance thatan Iranian missilewould be heading towards the small Palestinian town of Beit Awwa, in the Hebron Hills.
Moments later, the peaceful evening came to an end as shrapnel ripped through the walls of the beauty parlour and blew the door off its hinges.
Sahira, 36, Amal, 29, and Mais, 30, all from the same extended family of the Masalmeh clan, which calls the village home, died instantly as the blast erupted next to the shed housing the salon.
Another of the women, Aseel, 29, died in hospital, with her death announced as the other victims were about to be buried.
As well as preparing to celebrate Eid, which was expected to fall on Thursday or Friday, Aseel and Amal were several months pregnant and looking forward to welcoming their new children later in the year.
The four young women, described as "kind and beautiful", were the first Palestinians to die duringIsrael and Iran's conflict, and are the latest victims to die after Iran launched cluster munitions indiscriminately at towns and cities.
TheIsrael Defense Forces (IDF)said the incident was a "direct hit" from one of the missiles – which are used to scatter dozens of bombs through the sky – but Palestinian officials claimed that the damage was caused by an errant Israeli interceptor.
Cluster munitions have been bypassing Israeli defences in recent weeks with a "shotgun" approach, equivalent to firing "pellets" at Israeli targets. Even if the main warhead is intercepted, the munitions can still sometimes be deployed and can land at locations miles apart.
Ten other people were injured in Wednesday's attack, including a three-year-old girl and Sahira's sister-in-law and business partner Hadeel, 24, who survived with shrapnel injuries to her eyes, stomach and legs.
"We were working as usual," Hadeel, wearing a white hospital bandage over her nose and forehead, told The Telegraph as friends and family consoled her.
"We heard the sirens but didn't pay attention – we didn't think anything would happen or that anything would fall on us."
She said a customer had gone outside and seen "something glowing in the sky, red in colour" but she told her not to worry, believing that it would not land in the town.
"I told her to come back inside so nothing would happen to us," she said. "She stayed scared, standing behind me, while I continued working normally.
"Suddenly, the electricity went out and something struck. I didn't see anything. I opened the door and went outside, and I didn't even realise that I was injured.
"I started screaming and called my aunt and uncle telling them 'Come, save them.' My aunt went in to help the girls and started screaming 'Sahira is dead, Sahira is dead'."
Hadeel spoke after leaving hospital to pay her respects to Sahira and the other women.
Advertisement
"I haven't completed my treatment, I left to say goodbye to Sahira," she said. "I lost her. I couldn't believe she had been killed. I wanted to see her."
Unlike Israeli towns, Beit Awwa has no alarms or bomb shelters. The only reliable signal of incoming fire is the sound of sirens from the settlement of Negohot, two miles away.
The horror of the tragedy was visible to all on Wednesday as friends gazed in disbelief at the dried pools of blood on the floor. Red stains could be seen spattered on the walls, next to butterfly decorations and drawings of manicured nails and eyelashes.
Brightly coloured lipsticks, varnish, acrylic nails and other beauty products lay strewn across the salon, while curlers and foundation kits were seen scattered outside alongside shrapnel.
On the building's exterior, moon and star fairy lights hung up for Ramadan had been tossed aside by the blast, which hit with such force that shrapnel entered through one wall and out the other.
Witnesses said they ran to save the women only to discover that it was too late when they were met with the sight of severed limbs and a "river of blood" within the salon.
Abedullrazig Almasalmeh, 32, a neighbour, said: "I heard the sound of the blast and then voices. Then I heard screams, crying. People started to run and I found Sahira's mother at the main door. She was crying, and she told me, she told me 'my daughter is dead'.
"I told her, 'don't worry, inshallah, everything will be okay'. The I entered the salon and there was a bloody river, there were lower, upper limbs, organs everywhere. It was horrible."
Palestinians had hoped to stay clear of the conflict, which began last month, but Wednesday's atrocity left them in a situation that they described as "Bein Narain", Arabic for being caught between two fires.
As mourners prepared to carry the bodies, draped in blankets and Palestinian flags, towards a funeral prayer in a school playground, there was a reminder of the danger as a missile warning came through on a handful of phones that receive Israeli alerts.
For weeks, residents had been watching the news, seeing Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other Israeli citiescome under attackand occasionally hearing missiles flying above. However, until Wednesday, they did not think of themselves as collateral for the Iranian regime.
"When I see the rockets and TV, I wasn't afraid, but when I saw the scene of the women's bodies outside I was shocked," Suhair, a cousin of Sahira, said.
"We see the situation, the war between Iran and Israel. We see the rockets, we hear the rockets many times. But we didn't think that it was going to hit this village, maybe Hebron because it's big, but not here or the salon. Now everyone does not want to leave the house. There are no sirens or shelters. We feel afraid – there is no safety."
The IDF and Iran continued to trade blows on Thursday as Tehran continued to firecluster munitionsand the use of the banned weapons have claimed the lives of at least four Israeli civilians.
Now the residents of Beit Awwa are feeling the same pain as bereaved families on the other side of the Green Line, having been dragged into a war that was nothing to do with them.
"What is our fault?" Hadeel said. "We were in our workplace, earning our living. What do they want from us?".
Photography by Eyal Warshavsky
Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.
