CrossFireArabia
By Dr Marwan Asmar
CROSSFIREARABIA – Commander of the contentious 52nd Battalion which was involved in the killing of a six-year-old girl in Gaza was torched in his tank in southern Lebanon.
Lieutenant Colonel Dor Gadalia Ben-Simhon, 32 years old was one of the four Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon, Friday morning, as their tank was targeted during clashes with Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon an Israeli army statement announced.
The tank was set alight as a result of a rocket where the soldiers inside perished. The battalion that belonged to the Israeli 401st Armored Brigade has always been involved in controversy as Ben-Simhon is the fourth commander of this battalion to be killed and/or wounded, according to The Times of Israel.
But the curse started on 29 January 2024 when officers of the battalion were responsible for the killing of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in the Gaza Strip that was witnessing one of the worst genocides against it since living memory.
In April 2026, Daniel Ella, the previous commander of the 52nd Battalion, was called up to assume temporary duties during the offensive in southern Lebanon after the previous commander was also wounded through intense fighting with Hezbollah forces.
The reappearance of Ella brought to mind one of the most horrific war crimes committed by Israel in its two-year genocide in Gaza, which began soon after 7 October 2023.
The story of the killing of little Hind will indeed serve as a stain on the notion of professional soldiering in Israel for she and her relatives were killed in cold blood as they hastily travelled on 29 January 2024, from the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, south of Gaza City as the Israeli army targeted a car they were in.
She remained trapped inside the vehicle amidst the five bodies of her aunt, uncle and four nieces. They were all killed instantly except for one 15-year-old niece called Layan, though she died later whilst talking to an officer from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on an attempt to rescue them.
In those hours a two-man Palestinian team finally persuaded the Israelis to be allowed to rescue Hind and Layan but in the end didn’t succeed and were killed. The ambulance that was standing bye was also blown up by one of the tanks that were near and the men inside it also killed.
The child was found dead in the car 12 days later with the vehicle riddled with 335 bullets from Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles. After her cousin was killed, also by a direct bullet, the six-year-old picked up the phone and started pleading to one of the officers. The conversation lasted for three hours until the line went dead. That is when she and the two officers – Yousef Zeino and Ahmad Al Madhoun – were fired upon again and killed. Despite military coordination an Israeli tank fired on the ambulance and went up in flames.
In May 2025, the Hind Rajab Foundation announced it filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against Ella and the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Colonel Benny Aharon, accusing them of war crimes and holding them responsible for the death of Hind who was killed alone in the car surrounded by the limp bodies of family relatives.
According to The Times of Israel, Ella was wounded in Gaza in July 2024 while commanding the same 52nd battalion. He was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Yehuda Shalev, who was seriously wounded in October of the same year. The battalion’s commander was later wounded in Lebanon. The Israeli Channel 14 referred to him only as “A” last April.
Since October 2023, Ella commanded the 52 Battalion three times following the wounding of its previous commander during the offensives on Gaza and later in Lebanon, as per Channel 14.
An investigation by Al Jazeera last October 2025 revealed the names of the Israeli soldiers, including Ella and Aharon, involved in the killing of Hind, her family, and the paramedics who tried to save her.
The killing of Hind is one of thousands of crimes committed by the Israeli army in its genocidal war on Gaza. This is a war that has been openly and blatantly supported by the United States, which left more than 73,000 Palestinians dead and over 173,000 wounded, most of them children and women, and destroyed 90 percent of the infrastructure.
Despite the ceasefire agreement that took effect since 10 October, 2025, Israel continues its vicious campaign through a persistent siege and daily bombardment that killed 1,007 Palestinians and injured 3,165. These are mostly children and women, in addition to causing widespread destruction.
Israel also prevents the entry of agreed-upon quantities of food, medicine, medical supplies, shelter materials, and prefabricated housing into Gaza, where some 2.4 million Palestinians, including 1.9 million displaced persons, are living in catastrophic conditions.
In 1948, Israel was established on land occupied by armed Zionist militias who committed massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians. Tel Aviv then occupied the remaining Palestinian territories and refused to withdraw or allow the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Parts of this feature is based on an Anadolu news agency report in Arabic posted in crossfirearabia.com
