‘The tank is next to me’
What is known about the fleeing Gaza family that was killed along with the medics sent to find them
JERUSALEM — The sound of gunfire crackled over the phone as the teenage girl hid in the car and spoke. An Israeli tank was near the vehicle as she and her family were trying to heed Israel’s call to evacuate their home in northern Gaza.
Israeli troops were firing on the car, the teen said in terrified calls to relatives and emergency services. Everyone in the vehicle was killed except her and her 5year- old female cousin, Hind, she said.
“They are shooting at us,” 15-year-old Layan Hamada told the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. “The tank is next to me.”
And then there was a burst of gunfire. She screamed and fell silent.
Alone, terrified and trapped in the car with the bodies of her relatives around her, Hind made a desperate plea for help.
“Come take me. Will you come and take me? I’m so scared, please come!” Hind can be heard saying in a recording of the call to responders, released by the Red Crescent.
That call on Jan. 29 began a desperate rescue attempt by medics with the Palestinian Red Crescent, one of many during the war in Gaza. But after the organization sent an ambulance, it lost contact with the crew, Yousef Zeino and Ahmed alMadhoun.
On Saturday, 12 days later, the ambulance was discovered, blackened and destroyed.
The two medics were dead. The Palestinian Red Crescent accused Israeli forces of targeting the ambulance as it pulled up near the family’s vehicle. The organization said it had coordinated the journey with Israeli forces as in the past.
The family car was found as well with six bodies, including Layan’s and Hind’s.
“The child [Hind Rajab] and everyone in the car were found killed by the Israeli Army near the Fares petrol station in the Tal Al-Hawa area, southwest of Gaza City, after about two weeks of her unknown fate due to the Israeli military operation in the area,” according to Khader Al Za’anoun, a Palestinian journalist working for CNN who spoke to Hind’s grandfather.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
However, CNN earlier this month gave the Israeli military details about the incident, including coordinates provided by the Palestinian Red Crescent. In response, the Israel Defense Forces said it was “unfamiliar with the incident described.”
When contacted again by CNN, the IDF said they were “still looking into it.”
Movement around the tiny enclave carries deadly risk as Israel presses its ground and air offensive. Israel’s prime minister has announced plans for a ground invasion of the crammed southern city of Rafah and said well over a million people would need to move.
The Health Ministry in Gaza says about two-thirds of more than 28,000 people killed since the start of the war have been children and women. The ministry does not distinguish in its count between civilians and combatants.
Israel says it strikes Hamas targets and holds Hamas responsible for civilian casualties because the militants fight from civilian areas.
The Hamada family was among more than 80% of Gaza’s population evacuating their homes. On Jan. 29, near the Fares gas station in the Tal Al-Hawa area, southwest of Gaza City — in an area designated by Israel as a combat zone — the family encountered a tank.
The circumstances of the shooting remain unclear.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement that it was “heartbroken” by the reports that Hind and the Red Crescent rescuers were killed, and strongly condemned attacks on health care workers.