After more than two years of denial and facing international scrutiny, the Israeli military has now acknowledged that its troops fired on the vehicle carrying five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in Gaza and announced a criminal investigation into her death and that of two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics who tried to rescue her.
The admission marks a significant shift in the case that shocked the world. Hind’s final hours were captured in a series of phone calls with Palestinian Red Crescent emergency operators.
“The tank is next to me. It’s moving.”
Hind was trapped inside the black Kia after Israeli fire killed her family members. Her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamadeh initially survived and called the Red Crescent for help before being killed. Hind then remained alone in the car for hours, pleading with rescuers: “I’m so scared. Please come.”
The Red Crescent coordinated an ambulance mission to reach her, but contact with the team was lost. Twelve days later, Hind, her family members and two paramedics, Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, were found dead.
What happened to Hind Rajab?
On January 29, 2024, Hind and her family were attempting to flee Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in their car. Israeli fire killed several family members, while Layan was killed later. Hind, wounded and surrounded by their bodies, remained alive for hours as Red Crescent workers tried to keep her talking and arrange her rescue.
Israel initially said its forces were not in the area. It later suggested that the 335 bullet holes found in the vehicle resulted from an exchange of fire. But an investigation by Forensic Architecture, using satellite imagery and audio analysis, identified several Israeli Merkava tanks near the vehicle and found no evidence of an exchange of fire.
A documentary by an internationally renowned news organisation, Ma Khafiya Aatham (Tip of the Iceberg), later presented further evidence and identified the “Vampire Empire” company, commanded by Major Sean Glass and operating under the 52nd Armoured Battalion, as allegedly responsible for the killings and subsequent crime-scene tampering. It also examined allegations involving Colonel Daniel Ella, Israeli-Argentine soldier Itay Choukirkov and self-styled “war influencer” Shimon Zuckerman. These remain allegations presented by the documentary and the Hind Rajab Foundation.
For Hind’s mother, Wesam Hamada, the case has never ended. She continues to speak publicly about her daughter’s death, while Hind’s final words have reached audiences worldwide through the Oscar-nominated film The Voice of Hind Rajab. Her story, once confined to a desperate phone call from a trapped child, has now returned to the headlines with Israel’s own military investigation.