US asks Israel for clarification after report blames IDF for shooting death of Gazan child

WASHINGTON — The US wants answers from Israel after a Washington Post report found that the IDF was likely responsible for the death of a six-year-old girl in Gaza City earlier this year.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society accused Israel of deliberately targeting the ambulance sent to rescue Hind Rajab in late January after she had spent hours on the phone with dispatchers begging for help with the sound of shooting echoing around.

Family members found Hind’s body along with those of her uncle and aunt and their three children inside a car near a roundabout in the Tel al-Hawa suburb of Gaza City. Another of Hind’s uncles, Sameeh Hamadeh, said the car was peppered with bullet holes.

US State Department Matthew Miller says during a press briefing that Washington had asked Israel for clarification shortly after the incident and was told that the IDF has probed the matter and found that its forces had not been in the area at the time in question.

But after the Washington Post report published earlier today poked holes in the IDF claims, Miller says: “We’re going to go back to the government of Israel and ask them for further info.”

He says the US would welcome a full IDF investigation into the killing.