Hind Rajab: Palestinian girl found dead after being trapped under Israeli fire for days

Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl, was found dead Saturday nearly two weeks after she was trapped in a car with her dead family and surrounded by Israeli forces.

Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al Madhoun, two paramedics sent to rescue Rajab after she called pleading for help from inside the vehicle, which was under Israeli fire, were also found dead. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the ambulance was found bombed in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City, metres away from the car in which Rajab was trapped.

PRCS accused Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting the ambulance upon its arrival at the scene” despite prior coordination to facilitate the rescue mission.

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Rajab was last heard from on 29 January. 

Her mother, Wissam Rajab, previously told Middle East Eye the family were separated when they tried to flee the area, which was under intense Israeli attacks. 

Due to poor weather, Wissam had put her daughter in the vehicle along with her uncle, his wife and their children, while the rest of the family fled on foot.

After hearing gunfire in the area, the family called the Red Crescent to tell them the car was getting shot at. 

Initially, Wissam thought everyone in the car was killed until she got a call from Layan Hamadeh, her 15-year-old cousin, saying: “Hind and I are wounded, and all my family is dead, I don’t want to die. Please call an ambulance to save us. I’m scared. The tanks are 500 metres away from me.”

The line went dead, and Wissam thought they had both been killed. But when she called again, Hind answered and said: “I’m alive, but Layan was martyred. Mum, I’m afraid, they are all dead. Come and get me.”

The PRCS dispatched Zeino and al Madhoun to rescue Hind. The medics said they were 15 minutes away and that they were looking for her, but then the line cut off and contact had been lost with the crew since.

PRCS released an audio recording of the last phone call with Hind, during which her final pleas can be heard amid the rattle of gunfire.

“I’m scared of the dark, come get me,” she said.

According to Rajab, Hind said: “Don’t leave me, I’m cold, hungry, and afraid.”