12 days after being missing following an Israeli shelling on her family car, the body of the six-year-old girl Hind Rajab, along with the bodies of five of her family members, have been found in the Tal Al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to reports.
Medical sources reported that the family of Hind found her body this morning and the bodies of those who were in the vehicle, which was surrounded by occupation tanks in the vicinity of the Finance Roundabout in the Tal Al-Hawa neighbourhood.
PRCS said that two of its paramedics Zaino and al-Madhoun, who went out on a mission to rescue the little girl, Hind, were also found dead after 12 days of losing contact with them.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that the occupation deliberately targeted the ambulance immediately upon its arrival at the site, as it was found meters away from the vehicle containing the child Hind, despite obtaining prior coordination to allow its arrival at the site.
The incident of targeting Hind and members of her family shook the world, as appeals to find her did not stop after 12 days of losing contact with her along with two paramedics of the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) Youssef Zaino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, who went out on a mission to rescue her.
Hind Rajab, along with her uncle, his wife, and their children were stuck in a vehicle surrounded by Israeli forces, near a petrol station in Gaza. Hind’s family was fleeing their locality on foot after Israeli tanks reached the area for an assault. Her mother put her in the car with some of her relatives as she found the weather too harsh for Hind to bear.
Hind’s mother Wissam Rajab heard gunfire while leaving the place and called the Red Crescent to inform that a car carrying her daughter and other family members was getting shot at, as reported by the Middle East Eye.
At first, Wissam assumed they were all dead, but she received a call from her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamadeh, who told her that she and Hind were wounded in firing while all others were killed. “I don’t want to die. Please call an ambulance to save us. I’m scared, the tanks are 500 metres away from me,” Layan said on the call, as quoted by MEE.
As the call got interrupted, Rajab thought they had both been killed. She tried reaching them again and the call was answered by Hind who told her she was alive, but Layan was martyred.
Layan was shot in the head and was covered in blood. Hind’s grandmother instructed her on call to cover Layan’s face and asked her not to look at it to avoid panicking. Hind was in pain as her arm, leg, and back were wounded.
Wissam connected her daughter to the Palestinian Red Crescent helpline on a three-way call and pleaded for help. PRCS has released the audio recording of the phone call, in which the sound of firing and the little girl’s pleas could be heard.
“Don’t leave me. I’m cold, hungry, and afraid. I’m scared of the dark, come get me,” she said. Yousef Zeino and Ahmed Al Madhoun, were dispatched to rescue Hind with an ambulance. PRCS dispatchers stayed on call with Hind for more than three hours and tried to calm her down.
