GAZA, (PIC)
For 12 days, the Palestinian child Hind Rajab captured the attention of the entire world with her distress call. She was trapped in a car among the bodies of 5 martyrs from her family after they were fired upon by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in Gaza. However, her call was ignored by the IOF soldiers, and they even killed the ambulance crew that tried to reach her and save her.
After the IOF retreated from western Gaza on Saturday morning, the locals found 6 years old Hind lifeless among the bodies of her relatives who were martyred inside the car that was carrying them. This happened at the Al-Maliyya roundabout in the Tal Al-Hawa area, southwest of Gaza City, after the IOF had fired at them 12 days earlier.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also found the bodies of two paramedics, who were dispatched to rescue Hind after receiving her distress call on the phone.
Hind boarded the car with her uncle, aunt, and three of her cousins, fleeing their area after the IOF ordered the residents of the western area of the city to evacuate and move south.
A phone call between Hind and the ambulance workers revealed that she was the only one alive inside the car, hiding from the IOF among the bodies of her relatives.
The call ended when the line was cut amidst the sound of more gunfire.
Finding the martyrs
The paramedics of the Palestinian Red Crescent managed to reach the area and found a black Kia car, which Hind was aboard, with its windows shattered and bullet holes on its sides.
One of the paramedics said that Hind was among six bodies inside the car, all showing signs of gunfire and shelling.
A few meters away, another car was completely burned, with its engine on the ground. It was the ambulance that was dispatched to rescue Hind, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The humanitarian organization added that its crew members, Youssef Al-Zaino and Ahmed Al-Madhoon, were martyred when the IOF shelled the ambulance.
The Palestinian Red Crescent affirmed, in a statement, that the IOF deliberately targeted the ambulance as soon as it arrived at the scene on January 29.
The statement said, “The Israeli occupation forces deliberately targeted the crew of the Red Crescent, despite obtaining approval for the ambulance to reach the scene and rescue the child Hind.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent pointed out that it took a long time to obtain approval from the Israeli army before sending the paramedics to Hind.
Earlier this week, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent, Nebal Farshakh, said, “We obtained approval. We got the green light. And upon the arrival of the crew, they confirmed that they could see the car in which Hind was trapped. They could see her. The last thing we heard was continuous gunfire.”
After the phone call between Hind and the Palestinian Red Crescent workers was published, demands to reveal the truth of what happened to her increased.
“You have burned my heart,” said Wisam Rajab, the mother of the martyred child Hind Rajab, expressing her profound sadness mixed with anger towards international human rights organizations. She received the news of her daughter’s martyrdom after being trapped in a car with members of her family for nearly two weeks.
The grieving mother affirmed that she would file a case for her daughter, who was killed by the IOF, with international organizations and human rights organizations.
