Haunting audio footage has been released of a missing six-year-old girl in Gaza making a desperate come-and-get me plea phonecall from her family car after her relatives were killed. Hind Rajab and the paramedics who tried to save her are missing after the child was left trapped in a car with the dead bodies of six family members.
Her mother’s uncle, Basar Hamada, his wife Anam and their four children were killed after their black Kia Picanto came under fire on January 29, 2024. Hind was the only survivor.
During a phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS), she explained her family were killed by gunfire saying: ‘I’m telling you they’re dead,’ later adding: ‘The tank is next to me… it’s coming towards me… it’s very, very close.’
According to the Telegraph, Hind’s family had attempted to flee south of their neighbourhood after the Israeli military (IDF) had ordered an evacuation. The car is thought to have pulled into a petrol station for safety after it met Israeli tanks and came under fire.
Hind Rajab (pictured) has not been seen since being left trapped in a car with the dead bodies of six family members
Israel says it is not aware of the incident and the IDF told the Washington Post it was ‘unfamiliar with the incident described’.
Hind’s cousin Layan, 15, was with her in the car and was the first person contacted by the PRCS. She can be heard screaming in an audio recording translated to English by the PCRS: ‘They are firing at us. The tank is next to me.’ The call handler can be heard asking Layan if she’s hiding, before there is a loud sound of gunfire and the phone goes dead. When the handler called back, Hind picked up and begged PRCS coordinator Rana Alfaqeh to ‘come and get me’. Ms Alfaqeh asked if Hind had tried to wake her family up, to which Hind responded: ‘I’m telling you they’re dead.’ The distressed little girl told PCRS staff she was scared of the dark and begged them to rescue her whilst on the phone to them for three hours. The dispatchers managed to connect the Hind’s phone call through to her mother who was sheltering elsewhere in Gaza City. She told her: ‘I miss you mama.’ Paramedics lost contact with their colleagues after they arrived at the car at around 6pm, having been dispatched in an ambulance.
The organisation has since posted a string of pleas for information about the ambulance workers and Hind.
The distressed little girl told PCRS staff she was scared of the dark and begged them to rescue her whilst on the phone to them for three hours
Layan had earlier called her uncle – who lived in Frankfurt, Germany – from the car to say they had been struck and her parents and siblings were dead. She told relative Mohammed Salem Hamada she was bleeding and Hind was the only survivor, he in turn called the aid organisation. The PRCS located the car near Al-Azhar University and waited for permission from the IDF for the ambulance to enter a closed military zone. Three hours after receiving the phone call, dispatchers said they received permission to send paramedics to Hind, with maps provided by the Israeli authorities. Dispatchers said there was ‘heavy gunfire’ as they approached the vehicle at 6pm. Hind’s mother told Al Jazeera that one of the last things Hind said to her was: ‘Don’t leave me, mama. I’m hungry. I’m hurt.’ The PRCS urged the international community to pressure the IDF to account for what happened.
