“Of course there were thousands of other children who died because of this conflict.
» When the spokesperson for American diplomacy mentioned the death of little Hind Rajab, he did not fail to recall that this type of tragedy has been repeated since October 7.
But while little information filters outside the Gaza Strip, the fate of the 6-year-old Palestinian girl has been widely reported.
Here is what we know about Hind's death and the investigation requested by Washington.
VIDEO.
“Come and get me”: the terrible story of the last words of Hind Rajab, 6 years old, who died in Gaza
The call for help
Stuck between the gunshots and the corpses of her loved ones.
At the end of January, Hind Rajab, terrified, called for help.
“Come (…) get me,” she implored the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS).
I'm so scared, please come.
» According to her family, the little girl had managed to contact her loved ones when she was already the only survivor aboard her uncle's car who was trying to flee the fighting.
The vehicle of Hind and some members of his family had been stopped by IDF tanks.
Israeli soldiers then opened fire, according to his entourage.
She then survives for hours.
“She was scared, she was terrified and she was injured in her back, hand and foot,” her grandfather recalled.
The PRCS had confirmed having been in contact with Hind.
“For more than three hours, the little girl desperately implored our teams to come and save her from the tanks surrounding her, suffering the gunfire and the horror of being alone, trapped among the bodies of her loved ones killed by the forces. Israelis before his eyes.
»
How is this real life?
😞
How did a little girl survive a shooting that killed everyone else in the car?
How did she stay on the phone with PRCS teams for hours as we coordinated safe access for an ambulance to rescue her?
How can this story end this way?
💔
Hind, our paramedics,… pic.twitter.com/uwYnUqOw3F
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 12, 2024
A switchboard operator claimed to have spoken to the young Gazan woman before hearing the sound of gunfire.
The Palestinian Red Crescent had sent two rescuers to come to his rescue.
They never came back.
The discovery of the bodies
This Saturday, the lifeless body of Hind Rajab was found near a gas station in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza.
Twelve days after her call, the girl and her relatives “were found by members of (
our
) family who went looking for the car and found it near the gas station,” said Baha Hamada, the grandfather.
The area was previously inaccessible due to the Israeli presence.
The family blamed the IDF for the little girl's death.
The bodies of the two rescuers, Youssef Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, were also discovered.
They were lying in their ambulance, a few meters from the scene, according to the PCRS.
The latter accused “the occupying forces” of having “deliberately targeted them” and “while their ambulance had been authorized to go there to rescue little Hind”.
Towards an investigation?
While the thousands of deaths in Gaza are often only considered through the assessments given by Hamas, the example of Hind Rajab personified the suffering and horrors of the war suffered by the Palestinian population.
The international community was shaken, to the point that Washington demanded an investigation from Israel.
“We have asked Israeli authorities to urgently investigate this incident,” said Matthew Miller, spokesperson for American diplomacy.
This is a moving, heartbreaking story for this child.
»
“His tragic case is one of many happening before our eyes in Gaza,” said Tor Wennesland, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.
When an ambulance carrying emergency workers appears to have been hit while en route to help, we need answers.
»