Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories): “I’m so scared, please come,” were some of the last words six-year-old Hind Rajab said in a telephone call to rescuers after her family’s car came under fire in Gaza City 12 days ago, The Guardian reports.
Trapped in the vehicle and surrounded by her dead relatives, for three hours she pleaded with the Red Crescent to save her.
But the aid agency lost contact with the ambulance dispatched to her aid on 29 January and its crew and Hind remained missing.
Hind’s family has said that she was found dead inside the car in the Tel al-Hawa area of Gaza City on Saturday morning.
The New York Times quoting the Palestine Red Crescent said that the two rescuers who went looking for Hind nearly two weeks ago were killed by Israeli fire.
The last time Hind Rajab had been seen was about two weeks ago when she was surrounded by dead relatives after becoming trapped in the vehicle as they tried to flee Gaza City as Israeli forces advanced.
"Hind and everyone else in the car is martyred," the girl's grandfather, Baha Hamada told AFP.
A number of family members made the grim discovery when they went to Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa area looking for the car near a petrol station where it had last been spotted, he said.
"They were able to reach the area because Israeli forces withdrew early at dawn today," Hamada added.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip confirmed Hind's death.
"She was killed by (Israeli) occupation forces with all those who were with her in the car outside the petrol station in Tel al-Hawa," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier this week, family members had said the group found their way in the path of Israeli tanks and were fired on as they tried to flee.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not comment on the incident.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Gaza that the territory's health ministry says has killed at least 27,947 people, mostly women and children.
According to Al Jazeera, the plight of Hind, revealed in the harrowing audio clips, underlined the impossible conditions for civilians in the face of Israel’s four-month assault on Gaza, which many governments have termed a “genocide”.
Israel’s military has killed nearly 28,000 people – mostly women and children – since October 7 when Hamas fighters attacked Israel, killing more than 1,100 people and taking 253 captives, according to Israeli tallies.
(With inputs from AFP)