CrossFireArabia
On the second anniversary of Israel’s killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab who pleaded by phone to be rescued during the Gaza genocide, human rights organizations and advocates have renewed their calls for accountability and justice for Palestinians amid Israel’s ongoing attacks.
On January 29, 2024, Hind was killed while trying to flee to safety after the car she was traveling in with her relatives was fired on by an Israeli tank. Everyone in the vehicle was killed except Hind and her 15-year-old cousin, Layan, who called the Palestinian Red Crescent begging for help.
Layan was killed shortly after, leaving Hind alone on the line.
Two medics dispatched in a clearly marked Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance to rescue her were also targeted by Israeli tank fire as they approached. Despite coordinating their route with Israeli forces and maintaining direct contact during the mission, their ambulance was struck, killing both medics instantly. The destroyed vehicle was later found near the site where Hind’s car had been attacked with 335 bullet holes.
A recording of the phone call was widely shared on social media after her death, causing renewed international outrage over Israel’s attacks on civilians.
Rajab is heard sobbing and telling the Red Crescent Society, “Please come to me, please come. I’m scared”, while bullets were fired in the background.
Hind’s mother, Wissam Hamada, said, “The whole world has left us to die, to go hungry, to live in fear and to be forcibly displaced without doing anything.”
In June 2024, Al Jazeera investigated the attack, providing a detailed reconstruction of the incident, in collaboration with nonprofit investigative groups Forensic Architecture and Earshot and revealed that an Israeli tank was just 13 to 23 metres (42 to 75 feet) away when it opened fire on Rajab’s car.
Moreover, a United Nations report in July 2024 found, citing forensic analysis, that Rajab’s car was shot at from “very close range using a type of weapon that can only be attributed to the Israeli forces”.
Marking the second anniversary, the The Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgium-based pro-Palestine group which leads a legal push against Israeli soldiers’ war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and was named after the five-year-old child , said, “Many — including Israeli leaders and the thousands of soldiers and officers under their command — act as if justice will never catch up with the crimes Israel commits. Many believe the relentless assault on the universal values enshrined in international law will continue without consequence.”
“We build files. We compile forensics. We gather testimony. We track perpetrators. We prepare arrests, extraditions, and charges.
The pathway from filing a case to conviction is arduous.”
“This does not mean justice will never be served. It means justice is a process — and we, the lawyers, advocates, and war-criminal hunters, will not be deterred.”
Social media activists shared posts recalling Hind’s final moments, along with her photographs, accompanied by messages of ‘Rest in peace’ and ‘Never Forget’.
Amnesty International said, “Hind is one of the at least 20,179 children who have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 2023 – according to the latest reports from the United Nations. The real figure is likely much higher.”
“Justice for Hind Rajab requires not only her killers to be brought to justice. The architects of the genocide in Gaza must be held accountable too. Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant must face trial at the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” according to the Quds News Network.
