Gazan mother recounts ‘brutal’ phone call with missing six-year-old daughter

Wissam Hamadah spends her days at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza city, waiting for word of her six-year-old daughter, Hind Rajab.

She last spoke to her daughter on January 29, when Hind told her she was wounded after the car she was in came under attack by Israeli forces.

Nine days have passed since what Ms Hamadah called the “most brutal” phone call in her life, but she refuses to give up hope.

“I am not even 1 per cent convinced that she’s dead,” she told The National.

On the day of the attack, Hind was sitting in her family’s parked car at Al Faris petrol station in Gaza city, about 2.5km from Al Ahli Arab Hospital.

The child was with her mother’s uncle and his wife, and four other children, who had sought shelter in the car while it was raining.

Other members of the family, including Ms Hamadah, were walking nearby, when Israeli troops opened fire on the car.

Ms Hamadah said she could not get back to the car to get Hind. This was the last time she saw her daughter.

She said her youngest son, Eyad, had been told to stay in the car with the other children, but decided to “jump out of the window” to be with his mother – a decision that probably saved his life. The vehicle was then surrounded by Israeli forces, and Hind’s cousin Layan Hamadah, 15, who was also in the car, made a phone call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. The Red Crescent later released an audio recording of Layan’s call.

“They’re shooting at us,” Layan can be heard saying, with gunfire audible in the background. Her screams eventually go quiet, and the line abruptly drops.

The Red Crescent believes that Layan was killed along with five other people in the car.

After the line went dead, the Red Crescent called Layan back, but the phone was answered by Hind, who was still trapped in the car.

Hind stayed on the phone for at least two hours, as Red Crescent paramedics sought authorisation to attend the scene. Wissam Hamadah said she was able to join a three-way call with her daughter and Red Crescent staff.

During the call, Hind said Israeli tanks were approaching the car, Wissam Hamadah told The National.

“We kept telling her to stay down, and not to move, so that the Israelis don’t know she’s still alive,” she added.

Hind told her mother that her arm, back and leg were injured, and she was bleeding from her mouth.

“It was the most brutal phone call of my life. Hearing my daughter injured, crying and screaming and not being able to do anything to help her,” Wissam Hamadah said. Eventually, Hind said she could see the blinking red lights of an ambulance, before the phone line went dead again.

The Red Crescent had sent an ambulance with two paramedics to the scene, but they, like Hind, have not been heard from since.

Hind’s story has caught international attention, and “Where is Hind?” is trending on social media.

Wissam Hamadah said Eyad has been badly affected by his sister’s disappearance.

“He’s a little boy, but he refuses to eat no matter what we bring him,” she said.

“He keeps saying he’ll eat when his sister comes back.”

We kept telling her to stay down, and not to move, so that the Israelis don’t know she’s still alive

WISSAM HAMADAH

Mother of missing girl