Hind Rami Iyad Rajab (Arabic: هند رامي إياد رجب; 3 May 2018 – 29 January 2024) was a five-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip who was killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the Gaza war, which also killed six of her family members and two paramedics coming to her rescue. On 29 January 2024, Rajab and her family were fleeing Gaza City when their vehicle was shelled by the IDF, killing her uncle, aunt and three cousins, with Rajab and another cousin surviving and contacting the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to ask for help while noting that they were being attacked by an Israeli tank. The cousin was later also killed and Rajab was left stranded in the vehicle for hours on the phone, as paramedics from PRCS attempted to rescue her. Both Rajab and the paramedics were later also found dead on 10 February after an Israeli withdrawal. Israel claimed that there were not any troops present in the neighborhood and denied carrying out the attack. However, this was refuted by The Washington Post and Sky News's investigations relying on satellite imagery and visual evidence, which concluded that a number of Israeli tanks were indeed present and one had likely fired 335 rounds on the car that Rajab and her family had been in, with tank operators being able to see that the car had civilians including children in it. The Forensic Architecture investigation also concluded that an Israeli tank had also likely attacked the ambulance that came for Rajab. In the aftermath of the killing, Western media outlets were criticized for their coverage of the incident, including for not attributing who killed Rajab and for their adultification of her. American student protestors occupied and renamed Hamilton Hall in her honor at Columbia University, drawing increased attention to the incident. The feature film The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025) follows the story of her killing. On 19 August 2026, the Israeli Defense Force announced that they had launched a criminal investigation into her death.
Background By November 2023, about a month after the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, much of Gaza was heavily damaged, largely deserted, and bombed-out. By December 2023, the healthcare system in Gaza was close to collapse due to Israeli attacks and a blockade of humanitarian aid. Northern Gaza was particularly affected, as there were no functioning hospitals in the area by December due to shortage of supplies, fuel and staff.
Killing On 29 January 2024, Rajab along with six of her family members were fleeing from the Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, when an Israeli army tank shot their vehicle, a black Kia, killing Rajab's aunt, uncle, and three cousins. The only other survivor, Rajab's 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamadeh, called the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) for emergency aid. Hamadeh was crying, further adding that "They are shooting at us. The tank is right next to me. We're in the car, the tank is right next to us." Hamadeh was heard screaming as she was killed under the sound of machine gun fire raking the car while still on the line with responders. When the dispatchers called back, Rajab answered the call, stating everyone else in the car was dead and that the tank continued to approach the car. Rajab stayed on the line with the PRCS for three hours, telling the dispatcher, "I'm so scared, please come. Come take me. Please, will you come?" Her grandfather later told reporters that Rajab was injured in the back, hand and foot. Rajab, who was instructed to continue hiding in the vehicle, was set to be rescued by a PRCS ambulance. The audio of the phone call between the PRCS, Hamadeh and Rajab was published by the Red Crescent on 3 February. As the area was besieged, the PRCS worked with the Gaza Health Ministry and the Israeli military to guarantee safe passage for their ambulance crew to rescue Rajab. After hours of waiting, the PRCS says it was given the approval to send the ambulance along a designated route. The ambulance reported that they were being targeted by the Israeli military with lasers; according to the Washington Post, social media posts suggest that these lasers have in the past also been used by Hamas, but that a researcher at the Institute for the Study of War had not observed the use of such lasers by either side in the conflict. After sounds of gunfire or an explosion, the connection was lost. The fate of Rajab and the paramedics was unknown until 12 days later on 10 February 2024, when the family returned after the withdrawal of the Israeli military, discovering the car with Rajab, Hamadeh, and the rest of her uncle's entire family deceased. The windows were blown out, and the doors were covered with bullet holes. The Red Crescent ambulance was found a few feet away, completely destroyed with two ambulance workers, Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, also killed.
Investigation
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
