Missing Palestinian Girl, 6, Found Dead

UPDATE Feb 10, 2024 7:00 AM CST

The search for a missing 6-year-old Palestinian girl has come to a sad close. Al Jazeera reports that the body of Hind Rajab was found Saturday, in the car she was traveling in with her family on Jan. 29 when they were apparently hit by Israeli tank fire. The two medics who'd rushed to try to save Hind were also found dead, in a destroyed ambulance near the family's car, per the AP. The bodies were discovered in the Tel al-Hawa section of Gaza City. "Hind tragically lost her life alone after pleading with our teams for hours in a terrified and desperate voice, 'Come take me,'" the Palestine Red Crescent Society said, per Al Jazeera.
"Rest in peace, Hind." The organization also paid tribute to the "heroes of humanitarian work": medics Yousef Zieno and Ahmed Almadhoun.

Feb 6, 2024 10:30 AM CST

A Palestinian family was fleeing violence in Gaza on Jan. 29 when their car came under Israeli fire. In a disturbing phone call, 15-year-old Layan Hamadeh is heard pleading for help from emergency services. "They are shooting at us. The tank is right next to me," the girl said before gunfire erupted. The last sounds from Layan were her screams. Layan, three siblings, and both of their parents were killed, CNN reports. Only Layan's 6-year-old cousin Hind Rajab survived—at least initially. "I'm so scared, please come!" Hind, trapped in a car with her dead relatives, said in a call with the Palestine Red Crescent Society. It was three hours before the group could send staff into the area, an active combat zone.

PRCS said it coordinated the movements of an ambulance carrying two paramedics with the IDF, per the New York Times. Around 6pm local time, Yousef Zieno and Ahmed Almadhoun said they'd reached the area in which the girl was trapped and were to be checked by Israeli forces, per the BBC. But there's been no word from the paramedics or from Hind in the eight days since. "Where is Hind? Where are Yousef and Ahmed? Are they still alive? We want to know their fate," PRCS wrote Monday on X, noting the case had taken a toll on the mental health of staff and volunteers. "It's hard at night when you wake up and hear [Hind's] voice in your ear, saying, 'Come and get me,'" call operator Rana Faqih tells the BBC.

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Last week, the IDF told CNN that troops "assisted by tank fire" killed dozens of terrorists in central Gaza on Jan. 29. But it said it was "unfamiliar with the incident" involving Hind. As of Monday, the military said it was "still looking into it." Meanwhile, Hind's mother, Wissam Hamada, has been waiting outside a hospital in Gaza hoping her daughter will arrive. Hind, who confirmed her relatives were dead and described herself as injured, reportedly said she could see an ambulance before a phone call with her mother dropped, per the Times and BBC. "If my daughter didn't die from the bullets, she's going to die from the cold, from the hunger," Hamada tells CNN. "I call on the whole world to bring me back my daughter." (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)