The 12-year-old sister of the three Israeli children slaughtered at home last Friday has vowed to protect her remaining family members.

Tamar Fogel, who discovered the bloodied bodies of her three-month-old baby sister, parents and two other siblings, told Israeli newspaper Yisrael Hayom: “I will be strong and succeed in overcoming this.”

A Palestinian terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the massacre in Itamar, in the West Bank. The Israeli authorities are still investigating what happened.

Speaking as she sat shiva for her family, she added: “I understand the task that stands before me, and I will be a mother to my siblings”.

Her grandfather, Chaim Fogel, said that after he identified the bodies he had rescued his surviving grandchildren from “the Valley of Death”.

He said: “I don’t wish on anyone in the world the sight I saw. It is horrendous, beyond description, beyond comprehension.”

He added that he was unsure what to tell his youngest grandson. “What does a two-year-old understand when he cries over the loss of his parents?”