Israel army ‘didn’t contact’ Red Crescent on Hind Rajab killing


Hind’s family and paramedics lost contact with her after the vehicle she was travelling in was attacked by Israeli soldiers [Getty]

The Israeli army did not contact the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) regarding the killing of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab’s death, a Red Crescent spokesperson told The Intercept on Tuesday, contradicting comments from the US State Department.

Hind’s killing by the Israeli army caused outrage worldwide and was widely condemned. 

“Since the attack at our ambulances that was dispatched to save Hind Rajab, there has been no investigations made by the Israelis or any contact from the Israelis to the Red Crescent,” spokesperson Nebal Farsakh told The Intercept.

Farsakh added that the Israeli army has also not contacted them about the killing of Rajab’s family member or the paramedics sent to save her.

“We as the Palestinian Red Crescent have not received any kind of communication from the Israeli military,” Farsakh added.

Hind was found dead on 10 February in north Gaza, two weeks after being trapped in a car with her family.

The Rajab family were in their trying to flee Israeli attacks before the army fired on their car with a tank shell on 29 January, killing everyone inside except Hind, who was severely injured.

The PRCS later made public a recorded call of her pleading for paramedics to help her. However, they were unable to reach her and she died around three hours after the attack.

The killing caused revulsion and horror worldwide with student protesters later renaming a hall at Columbia University “Hind’s Hall” and US rapper Macklemore releasing a hit song with the same title.

This week, the US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said according to Israel, they were not given any information by the PRCS or the UN to aid their efforts to investigate the killing of Rajab.

“All I can tell you is what they’ve told us. And what they have said is, they went to the UN and the Palestinian Red Crescent and asked them to supply information that would help them, and what they claim is that they were given none,” Miller said.

Investigation into killing

His comments come in the backdrop of an investigation by the UK-based firm Forensic Architecture last week which concluded that Rajab was most likely killed by Israeli gunfire on 29 January.

The report found that a total of 355 bullet holes were in the body of the car, a Kia Picanto, with an analysis of the location of the entry holes detailing that the shots likely came from the right side of the vehicle.

Further analysis of a recording that captured the death of Hind’s cousin Layan Hamada during a call with the PRCS revealed that the burst of fire was likely from between 13 and 23 meters away and was likely Israeli used weaponry, such as the M4 assault rifle or a FN Mag machine gun, used in a Merkava Tank, that fired the shots.

The investigation also states that upon arriving at the site, a PRCS ambulance was shot at and destroyed, with part of 120mm tank shell later being found near the wreckage of the ambulance.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed 37,718 Palestinians since the start of the war on 7 October, most of them women and children, and wounded at least 86,377 in the same time frame.

According Save The Children, up to 21,000 children are estimated to be missing, trapped under the rubble, detained, or killed in Gaza since 7 October.



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