Hind Rajab's mother rejects Israeli probe, demands international inquiry

The mother of five-year-old Hind Rajab, killed in Gaza in 2024 when Israeli forces opened fire on her family's car, has dismissed the Israeli military's investigation into the incident, calling it meaningless and demanding an independent international inquiry.

"The investigation does not mean justice, and I do not trust Israeli media, their courts, or their army, and it means nothing to me," Wesam Hamada said. "I want a transparent international investigation in front of the whole world."

Hamada said her daughter's final pleas continue to haunt her. "All I remember is her voice pleading, 'Mama, I'm scared. Mama, I'm hungry. Mama, I'm hurt,'" she said. "Her voice keeps repeating in my ears."

Hind's desperate phone calls in January 2024, in which she and her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamada begged for help as gunfire erupted around them, made her one of the most recognized casualties of the Israel-Hamas war. The Palestine Red Crescent Society released recordings of the calls, which captured the civilian toll of the conflict.

Israel's military this week admitted to firing at the family's car and at an ambulance dispatched to the area, announcing a criminal investigation into the troops' conduct. But Hind's family and the Red Crescent doubt the probe can deliver justice.

Rana al-Faqih, a Red Crescent dispatcher who stayed on the line with Hind for over three hours, said the events remain seared in her memory. She tried to calm the child and patched her mother onto the call. "I couldn't physically reach Hind, embrace her, or help her feel safe. All I had was my voice," she said.

Hind and five relatives were found dead in their car 12 days later. The two paramedics sent to rescue her were also killed nearby. Israel initially denied its troops were in the area, but a U.N. commission and Forensic Architecture found evidence placing Israeli forces near the car.

Both the Red Crescent and the Hind Rajab Foundation have long called for an independent international investigation. "It is the right of Hind's parents, and the parents of our emergency workers, to know what really happened," al-Faqih said.

The military's announcement is one of two criminal probes it opened after reviewing roughly 150 incidents. Indictments in such cases are rare, with only a small fraction leading to charges.