From the Liveblog of
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Bodies of Gazan girl, 6, ambulance team trapped under Israeli fire, found after 12 days
Relatives found the body today of a six-year-old Palestinian girl who had begged paramedics to save her after being trapped by Israeli military fire almost two weeks ago, along with the bodies of five of her family members and two ambulance workers who had been dispatched to her location.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) accused Israel of deliberately targeting the ambulance sent to rescue Hind Rajab, after she had spent hours on the phone to dispatchers pleading for help with the sound of shooting echoing around.
“Hind and everyone else in the car is martyred [killed],” the girl’s grandfather, Baha Hamada, tells 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 gas station where it had last been spotted, he says. They found Hind’s body along with those of her uncle and aunt and their three children still in the car, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported
“They were able to reach the area because Israeli forces withdrew early at dawn today,” Hamada added.
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.
The PCRS released a photo of the ambulance, seen almost completely burned out. Al Jazeera footage of the scene appeared to show the ambulance only steps away from the car they said the family was in, a damaged black Kia Picanto riddled with bullet holes.
The plight of Hind, revealed in harrowing audio clips of her terrified conversation with rescue workers 12 days ago, underlined the impossible conditions for civilians in the four-month war, triggered by Hamas’s shock October 7 onslaught when terrorists killed 1,200 and took 253 hostages.
The PCRS said that after coordinating with the Israeli military through mediators and receiving a green light, it determined it was safe enough to send an ambulance with two crew, Youssef Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoon, to Hind’s location.
The PCRS says that in their last communication with the crew, they heard gunshots and an explosion before contact was lost.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the incident.
