Alone, trapped by a flood of fire among the corpses of her loved ones.
Hind Rajab had called for help, in vain, his voice breaking with terror.
His poignant pleas moved the whole world.
The 6-year-old Palestinian girl was found dead on Saturday in Gaza.
Nearly two weeks ago, Hind and some members of his family sought to flee the violence of the fighting.
Their vehicle was stopped by IDF tanks, when they opened fire, according to the family's account.
The little girl miraculously survives, and manages to contact relatives by telephone.
The other occupants of the car all died.
For hours, she survived in the car, trapped among corpses and gunfire, in the middle of an Israeli operation in Gaza City.
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“She was scared, she was terrified and she was injured in the back, in the hand and in the foot,” her grandfather said, his voice full of sobs.
The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) confirmed that one of its switchboard operators had spoken to Hind on the phone, then heard the sound of gunfire.
In a recording that he broadcast, we hear the little voice of the little girl begging, her voice consumed by terror: “Come (…) get me”, “I’m so scared, please come” .
In vain.
💔For over three hours, Hind has pleaded desperately with our teams for rescue from the occupation tanks surrounding her, enduring gunfire and the horror of being alone, trapped among the bodies of her relatives shot by the Israeli forces in front of her eyes.
The PRCS heroes… pic.twitter.com/VT00WJaP1B
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 3, 2024
After these calls, no one heard from the girl, nor did the rescuers sent to rescue her.
“For more than three hours, the little girl desperately implored our teams to come and save her from the (
Israeli
) tanks surrounding her, suffering the shooting and the horror of being alone, prisoner among the bodies of her killed loved ones. by Israeli forces before his eyes,” added the Red Crescent.
At the age of six, like thousands of Palestinian children, Hind is a victim of the ravages of war.
His remains and those of several members of his family were found Saturday morning in the car near a gas station in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, after Israeli tanks withdrew from the area at dawn, announced his family, who accused the Israelis of killing them.
The bodies of the two Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) rescuers sent to rescue her that day were also found on Saturday morning, in their ambulance, a few meters away, the PRCS said in a press release.
Ravaged and charred ambulance
“Hind and everyone in the car were killed,” said his grandfather, Baha Hamada.
“They were found by members of (
our
) family who went looking for the car and found it near the gas station,” an area previously inaccessible due to the Israeli military presence, he said. he explained.
“Hind Rajab was killed by the ( Israeli
) occupying forces
along with everyone who was with her in a car,” the Hamas Health Ministry confirmed in a statement, calling on “human rights institutions and the United Nations to investigate this heinous crime.”
In a press release announcing the death of the two rescuers, the PRCS accused “the occupying forces” of having “deliberately targeted them” and “while their ambulance had been authorized to go there to rescue little Hind”.
He then published photos of their ambulance, ravaged and charred, on social media.
The Israeli army did not respond to AFP's questions on this matter.
What remains of the PRCS ambulance sent to rescue Hind Rajab 12 days ago.
The ambulance was bombed by the Israeli occupation, resulting in the deaths of the crew, Yusuf Al-Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun.#Gaza #NotATarget ❌#IHL #TheyKilled_Hind_YousefAndAhmed pic.twitter.com/TrCqRSvZYA
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 10, 2024
The war broke out on October 7 after an unprecedented attack carried out on Israeli soil by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count. made from official Israeli data.
In response, Israel launched a military offensive which left nearly 28,000 dead in the Gaza Strip, the vast majority civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
According to Unicef, “thousands of children were killed and thousands more injured”.
Half of the estimated 1.7 million displaced people in Gaza are children, whose “houses have been destroyed”, “families torn apart” and who notably lack “water, food and medicine”, according to the agency. UN.