NEW YORK, March 23 (UPI) -- The seven brothers and sisters of the Sassoon Orthodox Jewish family, who died in a fire at home early Saturday, leaving a community in shock will be buried in Jerusalem, Israel.
The children, four boys and three girls, will be buried at 2 p.m. local time on Monday. The family lived in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem for many years, but moved to Brooklyn two years ago.
A family friend said the family planned to return to Israel to live.
"The Jewish community is in shock due to this exceptionally difficult incident, like the U.S. hasn't seen in years," ZAKA International, a humanitarian organization, official Yossi Landau said. "We are here to try to help as much as possible."
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The Sassoon family victims, ages and gender: Yaakov, 5, boy. Sara, 6, girl. Moshe, 8, boy. Yehoshua, 10, boy. Rivka, 11, girl David, 12, boy. Elian, 16, girl.
"They're some of the nicest, most well-behaved kids," one neighbor said of the children.
"Beautiful little children," another neighbor said tearfully.
The children's father, Gabi Sassoon, was at a religious conference in Manhattan and did not learn about the tragedy for several hours. He was praying at a synagogue on Saturday morning and fell to his knees in tears when he was told the news.
The early morning house fire that killed the children was likely sparked by a malfunctioning hot plate, authorities said.
The blaze, the deadliest in New York City in eight years, started about 12:30 a.m. in the first-floor kitchen of the home in the predominantly Jewish Midwood neighborhood in Brooklyn. The flames trapped the children in their second-floor bedroom.
The mother, 45, and a 14-year-old sister escaped by jumping from windows and were critically injured.
Authorities said a hot plate, a food-warming appliance, was likely being used overnight because observant Jewish families are forbidden from lighting a flame on the Sabbath, the weekly day of rest.
"It's a tragedy for this family, it's a tragedy for this community, it's a tragedy for our city," Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro said.
Amy R. Connolly contributed to this report.
