| Hind Rajab the 6 year old girl from Gaza | MR Online Hind Rajab, the 6-year-old girl from Gaza.

Search for Hind comes to tragic end; found dead amid pile of bodies

Originally published: Al Mayadeen on February 10, 2024 by Agencies (more by Al Mayadeen)  | (Posted Feb 13, 2024)
WarGaza, Israel, Middle East, PalestineNewswireHind Rajab, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Palestine Red Crescent (PRC), Tal al-Hawa neighborhood

The search for Hind Rajab, the 6-year-old girl from Gaza, who pleaded for help from the Palestinian Red Crescent as the Israeli occupation forces were shooting at the car she was in with her family 12 days ago, came to a tragic end.

The Palestine Red Crescent has confirmed that Hind has been found dead along with the bodies of five of her family members, in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, in a vehicle that was surrounded by Israeli tanks.

In further detail, the Palestine Red Crescent revealed that the ambulance that was dispatched to rescue Hind and her sister who contacted the PRCS for help was found bombed in Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City, leading to the killing of crew members Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, 12 days after losing contact with them.

These dedicated individuals had been missing since undertaking a rescue mission for the trapped child, Hind Rajab, as per the Palestine Red Crescent.

IOF brutality caught on video

Hind, along with her uncle, his wife, and their four children, was in a vehicle trying to find a safe place in northern Gaza when they became the target of Israeli gunfire, as reported by the PRCS.

Hind’s 15-year-old cousin, Layan Hamadeh, made a distressing plea for assistance to emergency services, a call that was recorded by the PRCS and later shared on social media. In the recording, the teenager can be heard speaking to a paramedic, tearfully seeking help and detailing the presence of a nearby tank.

“They are shooting at us. The tank is right next to me. We’re in the car, the tank is right next to us,” Layan screamed, amid intense gunfire heard in the background.

Following Layan’s silence, the rounds of gunfire came to a halt. The paramedic attempts to communicate with her, repeatedly saying, “Hello? Hello?” Unfortunately, there is no response.

Lonely, filled with fear, and confined in the car with the lifeless bodies of her family members, Hind urgently reached out for assistance.

“Come take me. Will you come and take me? I’m so scared, please come!” Hind pleaded in an audio recording of her call to emergency responders, as shared by the PRCS.

The PRCS reported that its responders remained on the phone with Hind for over three hours while urgently working to deploy an ambulance team, consisting of paramedics Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, to locate her.

During this period, ambulances were unable to access the area as it was deemed a “closed military zone” by the invading Israeli troops, with potential targeting of anyone attempting to move within that vicinity.

Rana al-Faqueh, a PRCS response coordinator who stayed connected with the girl throughout the ordeal, mentioned that Hind inquired about the time due to the approaching darkness.

“I’m afraid of the dark,” she said, as per al-Faqueh.

“Is there gunfire around you?” she asked. “Yes. Come get me,” answered Hind.

In an official statement, the PRCS reported at the time that their rescue team reached the location where the young girl was confined in the car, near a Fares gas station, at 6 pm local time.

However, shortly after, contact was lost both with the rescue team and with Hind.

Every mother’s worst fears

For 12 days, the world observed and anticipated updates on the plight of the young girl from Gaza who pleaded for assistance while trapped in a vehicle subjected to an Israeli attack.

Hind’s anguished mother, stationed anxiously outside a Gaza hospital, clung to hope, preparing her belongings and awaiting any news. The mother’s current anguish is indescribable, knowing that her 6-year-old daughter died alone, cold, fearful, and hungry. It remains unclear whether Hind succumbed to Israeli gunfire or starved to death amid the cold, with deceased family members in the car, fueled by her fear of the darkness. One thing is clear, Hind was deliberately killed by “Israel”.

The 6-year-old girl represents one among at least 12,150 Palestinian children who have been killed during the ongoing Israeli genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. Those who have survived until now find themselves in dire circumstances—trapped beneath the debris of their homes, facing starvation, grappling with critical injuries, or left stranded without parental guidance.

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