The twins Dalia Ghazi Obaid and Sally Ghazi Obaid were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza on December 5, according to a statement from the University of Waterloo in Canada.

The twins had received prestigious graduate scholarships to pursue their Ph.D. in engineering at the Canadian university.

In a press release published on Tuesday, the university stated that it was “deeply saddened to share the news of the twins' death, who were planning to come to Waterloo for their Ph.D. studies in Systems Design Engineering,” adding that they were beneficiaries of the University of Waterloo’s Student Refugee Fund (SRF).

The university indicated that Dalia and Sally were selected based on their remarkable academic excellence and great research potential. The university also noted that they received a message from the twins’ parents expressing that the family was very excited to know that they had received scholarships to study in Canada.

“With your help, they saw an end to their tragedy and suffering,” the parents stated in their message.