Israel will investigate Hind Rajab’s death. Her mother wants more

JERUSALEM (AP) — The mother of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl who was found dead days after Israeli forces fired on her family’s car in Gaza City wants an independent inquiry into her death, saying an Israeli military investigation announced this week is insufficient. Wesam Hamada said her daughter Hind Rajab’s final pleas still haunt her. “All I remember is her voice pleading, ‘Mama, I’m scared.

“Her voice keeps repeating in my ears.” The widely publicized recording of Hind’s January 2024 phone call with her mother and emergency dispatchers made her one of the Israel-Hamas war’s most prominent casualties. Israel’s military this week admitted to firing at the family’s car as it fled an Israeli invasion and firing toward an ambulance dispatched to help them. It said it would launch a criminal investigation into its troops’ conduct.

All six people in the car and two paramedics were killed. But both Rajab’s family and emergency responders from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society doubt the Israeli investigation can deliver justice. “Why did the investigation and the acknowledgment of the shooting at Hind’s car and at the paramedics come only after more than two years?” Hamada said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“It’s an attempt to distract from what’s happening in Gaza and improve the (Israeli) army’s image to the world. That’s it.” A call to paramedics heard around the world The story of their deaths drew international outcry after the Palestinian Red Crescent Society released recordings of Hind and her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamada calling for help. It was further amplified by “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a film that excerpted the recordings and was nominated for an Oscar.

On the recordings, as audible gunfire erupts around them, Hamada asks for help and tells Red Crescent dispatchers that her family had been killed. Seconds later, more gunshots are heard, and Layan’s screaming stops. Ambulance dispatchers called back and found Hind on the other end of the line.

She told them Layan was dead and Israeli tanks were advancing. The Red Crescent sent an ambulance and stayed in contact with Hind until the call dropped. Hind and five relatives were found dead in the family car 12 days later.