Hind Rajab, the Gaza girl who died begging for help for hours surrounded by corpses

Every 15 minutes a Palestinian minor dies in Gaza, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas Government. His names appear on a list, but they usually remain anonymous, swallowed up by the advance of a war that leaves a hundred dead every day and has just exceeded 28,000. One of these victims, five-year-old Hind Rajab, has become a symbol among Palestinians of the horror of the Israeli invasion. Also of the difficulties of the emergency services to help in the midst of the most intense bombing since the Second World War, for which they need the green light from the Israeli army, which may take hours or never arrive. Hind's body was found this Saturday in the car from which the girl, frightened, asked for help by telephone for three hours from the Palestinian Red Crescent and her mother, surrounded by the bodies of six relatives and with the sound of gunshots. background.

On January 29, the army ordered the evacuation of Tel Al Hawa, a neighborhood in the capital Gaza that has become a zone of clashes. Bashar, 44, and Anam, his 43-year-old wife, put their four children (Layan, 15; Sanaa, 13; Raghed, 12; Mohamed, 11; and Sara, four) in the car. and his niece Hind. Shortly after, a family member contacted the Palestinian Red Crescent from Germany. Communications are so bad in Gaza that she was the person who could best transmit the information that the teenager Layan had passed on from inside the vehicle: the Israeli army had opened fire on the car and only she and Hind were still alive, hidden among the corpses.

The Red Crescent telephoned Layan. “They are shooting at us. There is a tank nearby! ”She can be heard responding distressedly in the audio of the call, released by the organization. The coordinator then asks her if she is hiding. She answers yes. “Are you all in the car?” continues the health worker. Layan cannot respond. A long burst of gunshots and screams from the teenager are heard. The operator says “Hello?” several times, each time with less conviction, but on the other end of the line there is nothing but silence. The call barely lasts 40 seconds.

The coordinator calls again and Hind answers. Rana Al Faqeh, one of the people who spoke with her, said that they spent more than three hours online with interruptions: “The words she repeated the most were 'Come, pick me up', 'come, pick me up', 'what time is it?' ', 'How far is your house from mine?' She also said that it was starting to get dark and she was afraid of the dark. Sometimes she stopped talking, frustrated because no one came. The mental health coordinator got on the phone to explain how to take deep breaths to calm down.

The Red Crescent has released this excerpt from the conversation, which ended up being cut off between sounds of gunshots:

―Pick me up, come!

– I'll pick you up?

– Really, I'm scared. Come. Call someone to come and pick me up!

“Okay, honey, I'm going to go and pick you up.” A volunteer from the [Media] Moon [Roja] He's making the coordination so we can go and get you.

― [Se oyen disparos] Are there gunshots around you?

– Yes, pick me up!

“Honey, I really want to go pick you up, but it's not in my power right now.

In between, Hind also spoke with her mother, before and after her cousin's death. The parent has recounted the conversation to the Al Jazeera television network, which does not reveal her name: “She told me: 'Mom, I'm alive.' Layan has become a martyr, but I am alive.' They told me [de la Media Luna Roja] that I had to hang up, everyone told me, but I said 'No, I want to talk to my daughter.' We recited the Quran together and prayed to God. When he hung the Crescent, he called her and told me: “Mom, don't leave me alone, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty and I'm hurt. I said, 'Where are you hurt?' 'Mom, I'm hurt in my hand, my back and my leg.'

Until this Saturday at dawn, when the Israeli troops have withdrawn, it was impossible to access the area. The black Kia Picanto in which Hind and her five relatives died is riddled with bullets, with the windows and front doors damaged. A few meters away is the ambulance that went to rescue the girl. It is a charred mass with the smell of decomposition from the 12 days that the corpses of the two health workers who were inside it have been carrying: Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed al Madhun, according to the videos broadcast by both the organization and television stations in the place.

Nebal Farsaj, spokesperson for the Red Crescent, explains that while they were speaking with the little girl, they were simultaneously seeking permission from the Israeli military authorities to approach the area. There is no direct dialogue. He was asked to do so by the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian National Authority, in Ramallah, which contacted COGAT, the agency of the Israeli Ministry of Defense that is in charge of civil affairs in Gaza and the West Bank.

“When the Ministry of Health received the green light, we sent the ambulance. We were on the phone at the same time with Hind and the team. Upon arrival, he told us that they could see the car Hind was in and mentioned that a laser was pointed at the ambulance. At that moment shots and perhaps explosions were heard, we were not sure what was happening. We lost the connection. For 12 days we thought that perhaps they had been arrested and that is why we had no news about them,” says Farsaj. When consulted by this newspaper, the Israeli army has assured that it is investigating the incident.

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