Satellite pics suggest IDF forces were near where girl, 6, was killed

Hind Rajab stayed on the phone for hours, drifting in and out of consciousness (Picture: Family)

‘The tank is next to me. It’s moving,’ Hind Rajab says, her voice slightly trembling as she spoke to emergency services on the phone.

The six-year-old sits surrounded by the bullet-riddled bodies of her aunt, uncle and cousins – including Layan, just 13 years old, who was shot dead in front of Hind moments earlier. 

Hind and her family have just left their home in Gaza City on January 28 after seeing a post from Israeli Defence Forces asking residents in the west of Gaza City to evacuate.

Along with her four cousins, aunt and uncle, the group packed into the car and began driving towards their family in northern Gaza City, rather than stay in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood. 

They wouldn’t make it to their destination.

Hind, her family, and two paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent were all found dead in their vehicles, with signs of alleged Israeli weaponry used in the attacks.

The IDF has said its forces ‘were not present near the vehicle or within the firing range of the described vehicle’, and said the incident has been passed on for investigation.

Hind quietly talked to the operator for three hours (Picture: AFP)

Around 2.30pm that day, emergency dispatcher Omar al-Qam managed to reach Layan, who was in the car with Hind.

‘They’re firing at us. The tank is next to me!’ she said.

‘Are you all hiding?’ Omar asked.

‘Yes, in the car,’ Layan says, with more urgency. ‘The tank is next to us.’

Omar asked the teenager another question, before the sound of rapid gunfire and a scream was heard. The call ended. 

Satellite imagery verified by the Washington Post, taken an hour after the phone call with Layan that day, appears to show four Israeli armored vehicles up the road from where the family’s car was stopped – something which the IDF told Metro.co.uk is not true. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent claims this is not an isolated incident and similar attacks have been happening ‘systemically’.

A plea for help

Hind picked up the phone after Layan was killed (Picture: Family)

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society immediately called back after the phone call with Layan was cut with rapid gunfire.

A little voice picked up on the other end – it was Hind. She was still alive, hiding in a car with the bodies of her family.

‘The tank is next to me,’ she said.

A female operator asks her: ‘Is it moving, or is it stopped? Did anyone come out of it?’

Hind paused, before replying: ‘It’s moving from the front of the car.’ 

‘Is it close?’ the operator asks.

‘Very, very close,’ Hind replies. 

Waiting among the dead

Yusuf Zeino began the journey to rescue Hind (Picture: Reuters)

He and Ahmed Al-Madhoun left al-Ahli Hospital to drive the two miles (Picture: Reuters)

Two hours later, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society manages to liaise with an arm of the IDF called COGAT that coordinates safe passage for ambulances in Palestine. 

They are sent a map from COGAT detailing a safe passageway to where Hind is hiding in the car, and paramedics Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun leave al-Ahli Hospital to make the two mile journey to find the little girl.

With the lights of their ambulance flashing clearly, they began driving down Al Majdal Street, where Hind’s family car was sitting.

Yousef tells a dispatcher as he drives down the street: ‘The lights are on. Oh, there-‘ 

The call drops after an explosion is heard – an explosions also audible in the call with Hind, who was still hiding in the vehicle down the road. 

Her voice began to fade, as did the phone’s battery. Hind kept repeating: ‘Come get me, quickly.’ 

A so-called ‘unusual event’

New satellite imagery has shown the positions of the vehicles (Picture: Washington Post)

The car Hind and her family were driving in was destroyed (Picture: Getty)

Little Hind was found dead among her relatives, when emergency services were able to reach the scene 12 days later. 

The bodies of Hind and her family were so decomposed it was hard to see where they had been shot. They were buried at a nearby hospital.

As for paramedics Ahmed and Yusuf, there was nothing left of their bodies.The ambulance had burned after being struck.

Metro.co.uk reached out to the IDF to clarify if its tanks were in the area, as shown through satellite imagery reviewed by the Washington Post.

It said: ‘Following a preliminary inspection conducted by the IDF, it appears that IDF forces were not present near the vehicle or within the firing range of the described vehicle in which the girl was found. 

‘As to the ambulance, given the lack of forces in the area, there was no need for an individual coordination of the ambulance’s route or an accompanying vehicle in order to pick up the girl. 

‘This incident was passed on to the investigation mechanism of the General Staff, which is a separate institution that investigates unusual events that occurred during the war.’

The ambulance showed signs of tank warfare, one expert said (Picture: Getty)

When presented with satellite imagery showing what appears to be military vehicles near the scene, the IDF said: ‘No further comment.’

The Palestinian Red Crescent’s spokesperson, Nebal Farsakh, told Metro.co.uk the area of Tel al-Hawa, where Hind’s family had been killed, was under an evacuation order from the IDF – which said in a post on social media it would conduct military operations there.

Ms Farsakh said: ‘There is no way to deny that the Israeli military was in that area. One the phone calls with both Layan and Hind, they both confirmed the existence of Israeli tanks.

‘If it wasn’t a military area, it means we would immediately send an ambulance and go to the area to save Hind, but because there was an Israeli military presence we had to coordinate with access for our ambulances.’

Ms Farsakh explained that after three hours of waiting, they finally got the green light for the ambulance to leave, from the Israeli Ministry of Health. Despite this, the team was targeted, she said.

Hind remained on the phone for three hours while pleading for help (Picture: AFP)

‘For 12 days, we weren’t sure of Yusuf and Ahmed’s fate, if they were still alive or not,’ she explained. ‘We thought they might have been arrested, then we found out the ambulance was found, and both Yusuf and Ahmed were killed. 

‘This is not at all an isolated incident. This little girl was six years old, trapped in a car while everyone inside of the car was killed in front of her.

‘She was terrified. Every couple of minutes she would ask the dispatchers: “Please come and pick me up. Please come and get me.”

‘She went through one of the most horrific events that most people couldn’t bear. If this happened in any other country or warzone, it would catch more attention. It should not be allowed to pass as nothing.’

Hind and her family were given a quiet burial at a nearby hospital. But Yusuf and Ahmed’s families were not given the chance to say goodbye – much of their bodies have not been recovered.

‘There is no justice. If this story passes without any accountability, it would be devastating.’

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