Killing of Hind Rajab

Hind Rajab (هند رجب; 2017/2018 – 29 January 2024) was a six-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip, whose killing, along with six family members and two paramedics coming for her rescue, by Israeli forces during the Israel–Hamas war received widespread coverage.

Rajab and her family were fleeing Gaza City when their vehicle was shelled, killing her uncle, aunt and three cousins, except for Rajab and another cousin who contacted the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to ask for help while noting that they were being attacked by an Israeli tank. The cousin was later also killed and Rajab was left stranded in the vehicle for hours on the phone, as paramedics from PRCS attempted to rescue her. Both Rajab and the paramedics were later also found killed on 10 February after an Israeli withdrawal.

Israel claimed that there weren't any troops present in the neighborhood and denied carrying out the attack. However, this was refuted by investigations relying on satellite imagery and visual evidence, which concluded that a number of Israeli tanks were indeed present and one had likely fired 335 rounds on the car that Rajab and her family had been in, with tank operators being able to see that the car had civilians including children in it. The Forensic Architecture investigation also concluded that an Israeli tank had also likely attacked the ambulance that came for Rajab.

In the aftermath of the killing, Western media outlets were criticized for their coverage of the incident, including for not attributing who killed Rajab and for their adultification of her. American student protestors renamed overtaken buildings in honor of Rajab, drawing increased attention to the incident.

Killing
By November 2023, one month after the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, much of the Strip was largely deserted and bombed-out. By December 2023, the healthcare system in Gaza was collapsing due to Israeli attacks and a blockade of humanitarian aid. Northern Gaza was particularly affected, as there were no functioning hospitals in the area by December due to lack of supplies, fuel and staff.

On 29 January 2024, Rajab along with six of her family members were fleeing from the Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, when an Israeli army tank shot their vehicle, a black Kia, killing Rajab's aunt, uncle, and four cousins. The only other survivor, Rajab's 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamadeh, called the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) for emergency aid. Hamadeh was crying, further adding that "They are shooting at us. The tank is right next to me. We're in the car, the tank is right next to us."

Hamadeh was heard screaming as she was killed under the sound of machine gun fire raking the car while still on the line with responders. When the dispatchers called back, Rajab answered the call, stating everyone else in the car was dead and that the tank continued to approach the car. Rajab stayed on the line with the PRCS for three hours, telling the dispatcher, "I'm so scared, please come. Come take me. Please, will you come?" Her grandfather later told reporters that Rajab was injured in the back, hand and foot. Rajab, who was instructed to continue hiding in the vehicle, was set to be rescued by a PRCS ambulance. The audio of the phone call between the PRCS, Hamadeh and Rajab was published by the Red Crescent on 3 February.

As the area was besieged, the PRCS worked with the Gaza Health Ministry and the Israeli military to guarantee safe passage for their ambulance crew to rescue Rajab. The ambulance reported that they were being targeted by the Israeli military with laser lights; according to the Washington Post, social media posts suggest that these lasers have in the past also been used by Hamas, but that a researcher at the Institute for the Study of War had not observed the use of such lasers by either side in the conflict. After sounds of gunfire or an explosion, the connection was lost. The fate of Rajab and the paramedics was unknown until 12 days later on 10 February 2024, when the family returned after the withdrawal of the Israeli military, discovering the car with Rajab, Hamadeh, and the rest of her uncle's entire family deceased. The windows were blown out, and the doors were covered with bullet holes. The Red Crescent ambulance was found a few feet away, completely destroyed with two ambulance workers, Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, also killed.

Investigation
According to an initial investigation from the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Rajab and her relatives were killed by the Israeli army in a "planned execution"; using a US-made missile, the IDF also killed the Red Crescent paramedics sent to rescue the young girl. Shell fragments of an American-made M830A1 projectile were found at the site of the bombed Red Crescent ambulance that was looking for Rajab and her family. A spokesperson for the U.S. government said that it would wait for Israel to conclude its investigation of the incident.

An IDF spokesperson claimed, after a preliminary investigation, that there were no IDF troops near the vehicle or within firing range and that, due to the lack of troops, ambulance coordination was unnecessary to rescue Rajab. In response to the IDF statements, Al Jazeera stated, "Israel has a history of swiftly clearing its troops of any wrongdoing in cases of abuse against Palestinians." An Al Jazeera investigation further found that three Israeli tanks were in the vicinity of Rajab's family vehicle at the time of the attack.

The investigation was reportedly handed over to the General Staff Fact Finding Assessment Mechanism, described as an independent military body that investigates unusual incidents. The United States has also raised calls for Rajab's death to be investigated in a timely manner, stating they were "devastated" about Rajab's death. PRCS told The Intercept that the Israeli military never contacted it regarding the killing of Rajab and the attack on its ambulances, refuting the State Department's remarks that PRCS and the United Nations had rebuffed Israeli efforts to investigate the incident.

An investigation conducted by The Washington Post in April 2024 countered claims made by the Israeli military. The investigation, which used satellite imagery, concluded that Israeli armored vehicles were indeed in the vicinity of the car where Rajab was killed, and the 300mm hole on the Red Crescent ambulance is consistent with an Israeli tank round, although it cautioned that this was just one explanation, as "there is little data on craft-produced Hamas munitions". The Post also confirmed that the wreckage of the ambulance was found on a route provided by COGAT, an arm of Israeli Defense Ministry that coordinates safe passages for medical vehicles with the IDF.

Forensic Architecture
In June 2024, Forensic Architecture publicized its investigation, which relied on visual, audio and other collected evidence, to reconstruct the event. The investigation concluded that an Israeli tank had likely fired 335 rounds on the car that Rajab and her family had been in, and that tank operators would have been able to see that the car had civilians including children in it. It also concluded that an Israeli tank had also likely attacked the ambulance that came for Rajab.

Impact
Rajab's case garnered international attention with calls by activists and humanitarian organizations to help find her and bring her to safety when she was missing for the 12 days. Her mother begged for the international community not to forget her daughter and to bring her home. The Palestinian Red Crescent utilized their social media accounts to post photos of both paramedics and Rajab for multiple days, while appealing for information about their locations. Multiple news agencies reached out to the Israeli military for comment about the incident. On 2 February, the Israeli military told CNN reporters it was "unfamiliar with the incident". When they were contacted again three days later, they reported they "were still looking into it".

After the discovery of her body, many pro-Palestinian figures criticised Western media outlets for stating that Rajab had been "found dead" without attributing her death to Israel, contrasting it with the sympathetic coverage of the deaths of children in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Rajab's mother was critical of the Israeli army after the confirmed death of her daughter, stating, "How many more mothers are you waiting to feel this pain? How many more children do you want to get killed?". The Red Crescent laid the blame of the incident at Israel, accusing it of deliberately targeting the ambulance crew. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on the International Criminal Court to hold those responsible for Rajab's death accountable. On 13 February, the human rights group Justice For All submitted a case to the ICC charging the IDF with multiple war crimes for the killing of Rajab.

In April 2024, pro-Palestinian student protesters participating in the ongoing campus occupation at Columbia University in New York City seized Hamilton Hall, an academic building on the university's Morningside Heights campus. The students unfurled a large banner renaming the building "Hind's Hall" in honor of the child. During a segment on CNN that discussed the renaming of the hall, host Kasie Hunt explained to viewers: "Hind is a reference to a woman who was killed in Gaza." This description was criticized as an example of the adultification of Palestinian children and a pro-Israel bias on CNN.

On May 16, UC Berkeley student protesters occupied an abandoned historic building on campus known as the Anna Head complex and renamed it "Hind's House."

In May 2024, American rap artist Macklemore released "Hind's Hall", a protest song in honor of Rajab as well as in support of the student protests. Macklemore criticized the music industry's supposed prioritization of "petty issues" such as the Drake–Kendrick Lamar feud over the war. As part of the track's release, Macklemore stated that all proceeds generated from streams would go towards UNRWA.