For 3-and-a-half lengthy hours on Jan. 29, the cellphone in 6-year previous Hind Rajab’s arms was the closest factor she needed to a lifeline. Alone within the again seat of a automotive exterior a Gaza Metropolis fuel station, she was drifting out and in of consciousness, surrounded by our bodies, as she instructed emergency dispatchers that Israeli tanks have been rumbling nearer.
From the operations room of the Palestine Pink Crescent Society (PRCS), roughly 50 miles away within the metropolis of Ramallah, the group on responsibility had carried out their greatest to save lots of the kid. Paramedics have been on their means, the dispatchers stored telling her: Maintain on.
The paramedics have been driving to their deaths.
Twelve days later, when a Palestinian civil protection crew lastly reached the world, they discovered Hind’s physique in a automotive riddled with bullets, in accordance with her uncle, Samir Hamada, who additionally arrived on the scene early that morning. The ambulance lay charred roughly 50 meters away (about 164 ft) from the automotive, its destruction in line with the usage of a spherical fired by Israeli tanks, in accordance with six munitions specialists.
In an announcement, the Israel Protection Forces mentioned they carried out a preliminary investigation and that its forces have been “not current close to the automobile or throughout the firing vary” of the Hamada household automotive. Nor, they mentioned, had they been required to supply the ambulance permission to enter the world. The State Division mentioned it has raised the case repeatedly with the Israelis. “The Israelis instructed us there had, in actual fact, been IDF items within the space, however the IDF had no data of or involvement in the kind of strike described,” mentioned spokesman Matt Miller.
A Washington Publish investigation discovered that Israeli armored automobiles have been current within the space within the afternoon, and that gunfire was audible as Hind and her cousin Layan begged for assist, in addition to intensive harm precipitated to the ambulance, are in line with Israeli weapons. The evaluation relies on satellite tv for pc imagery, contemporaneous dispatcher recordings, photographs and movies of the aftermath, interviews with 13 dispatchers, relations and rescue employees, and greater than a dozen army, satellite tv for pc, munitions and audio specialists who reviewed the proof, in addition to the IDF’s personal statements.
After this story printed, Miller mentioned, “The loss of life of Hind Rajab is an unspeakable tragedy – one thing that by no means ought to have occurred and by no means ought to happen…So what we’re going to do is take the data that’s contained in that Washington Publish story, we’re going to return to the federal government of Israel and ask them for additional data. We’d nonetheless welcome a full investigation into this matter, and the way it occurred within the first place.”
PRCS in addition to representatives from Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and the Civil Protection who visited the scene on Feb. 10 supplied visuals to The Publish, which it verified by independently confirming the placement utilizing satellite tv for pc imagery, open-source maps and eyewitness interviews.
The Publish’s evaluate additionally discovered that the ambulance was found alongside a route supplied by COGAT, an arm of the Israeli Protection Ministry that usually coordinates protected passage for medical automobiles with the IDF. COGAT initially referred particular questions concerning the ambulance to the IDF. In mid-March, Elad Goren, head of Coordination and Liaison Administration at COGAT, instructed The Publish that the company “coordinated all the pieces … together with the ambulance that wished to go and discover Hind,” however mentioned he was “not conscious” of the specifics. COGAT didn’t reply to repeated requests to make clear.
The IDF denied that any coordination had taken place, repeating its assertion that its forces weren’t within the space. It didn’t touch upon two detailed timelines of the incident, or on the skilled findings, supplied by The Washington Publish.
It was not potential to succeed in Hamas’s army wing for touch upon the incident.
Humanitarian officers have warned {that a} system of coordination with Israel’s army, designed to guard their help deliveries and lifesaving ambulance maneuvers, is damaged. Israeli strikes on a World Central Kitchen convoy that killed seven help employees in Gaza on April 1 and stirred international outrage got here after failed deconfliction efforts.
Greater than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed throughout Israeli army operations in Gaza, in accordance with native well being authorities. Amid a warfare of unyielding horror, Hind’s case touched a nerve around the globe, largely as a result of her recorded cries for assist supplied a glimpse into the terrors confronted by civilians.
9:32 a.m.
Generations of the Hamada household had lived on al-Wahda Avenue within the northern a part of Gaza Metropolis for many years. All the pieces modified on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants stormed border communities in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 individuals, together with civilians of their properties and younger individuals at a live performance, and taking about 240 hostages again to Gaza. The assault drew a punishing response from Israel which insists its marketing campaign is important to destroy Hamas’s army capabilities.
Greater than 75 p.c of Gaza’s 2.2 million inhabitants has been displaced by the combating, lots of them a number of occasions, in accordance with the United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The Hamada household fled their homes; some went south, whereas others sheltered nearer to house, within the close by Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in western Gaza Metropolis.
However late on Jan. 28, Israeli forces returned to western Gaza Metropolis in numbers. Posts on social media present heavy gunfire and airstrikes in that a part of the town simply after midnight native time. At 9:32 a.m., the IDF issued a name in Arabic on X, the social media platform previously referred to as Twitter, asking residents within the west of Gaza Metropolis — together with the Tel al-Hawa space — to evacuate instantly.
Hind’s uncle, Bashar, and his spouse packed her into the automotive alongside along with her 4 cousins, Bashar’s brother Samir mentioned. They deliberate to drive north, out of the evacuation zone and again towards the household house in northern Gaza Metropolis.
The lady screamed, and the decision dropped. “Howdy,” Qam shouted. “Howdy?”
Whereas Qam spoke to Layan, 62 gunshots are audible over six seconds in two bursts of fireside on a recording of the decision, in accordance with Earshot, a nonprofit that conducts investigations utilizing audio proof.
Steven Beck, an acoustic analyst who consulted with the FBI for greater than a decade, examined the recording on the request of The Publish, and located the variety of rounds per minute fired was quicker than an automated AK-patterned rifle, which Hamas fighters typically use. The speed, he mentioned, was extra akin to weapons generally issued to Israeli forces. Earshot additionally discovered the speed of fireside to be quicker than an AK-patterned rifle.
The decision, which started round 2:30 p.m., led to lower than a minute.
A satellite tv for pc picture captured by Planet Labs roughly an hour later, at 3:31 p.m., exhibits at the least 4 Israeli armored automobiles round 300 meters up the street from the ladies.
Hind Map
Will Goodhind, an imagery analyst with Contested Floor — an open-access satellite tv for pc analysis group centered on army, humanitarian and worldwide affairs — who examined the satellite tv for pc imagery on the request of The Publish, mentioned the armored automobiles on the intersection closest to Hind are “tactically positioned” and seem to supply a “distinguished, seen presence to discourage (and reply to) enemy assaults,” amid ongoing floor operations.
Greater than a dozen different Israeli armored automobiles are seen inside a quarter-mile of the Hamada household automotive, the picture exhibits.
The automobiles match the approximate measurement and have turret-like constructions much like at the least 4 Israeli tracked automobiles, in accordance with Goodhind. Of these, solely the Merkava tank has been seen in motion in Gaza, in accordance with Sonny Butterworth, senior analyst with the protection intelligence agency Janes. The equally sized Namer armored personnel service and Puma fight engineering automobile have additionally been seen in motion in Gaza, however lack the turret-like construction.
The Merkava, the Namer and the Puma all have 7.62 caliber machine weapons, Butterworth mentioned. The weapons can hearth at a fee in line with what Beck and Earshot concluded was heard within the audio of Layan’s final name.
After Qam’s name with Layan ended, the PRCS operations room referred to as again instantly and Hind answered. Layan was lifeless and tanks have been shifting towards the automotive, she instructed one other dispatcher, Rana Faqih. Hind described the presence of tanks at the least 5 extra occasions all through the decision.
5:40 p.m.
The Palestine Pink Crescent routinely coordinates the passage of its ambulances with Israeli authorities, within the hope of securing protected entry to areas the place the scenario on the bottom is doubtlessly harmful.
Fathi Abu Warda — a liaison between the Palestinian Authority’s well being ministry in Ramallah and COGAT, an arm of the Israeli Protection Ministry that oversees the Palestinian territories — mentioned that permission for an ambulance to proceed to Hind arrived within the type of a route map from COGAT. Abu Warda despatched the map to the PRCS dispatch group on WhatsApp at 5:40 p.m., in accordance with messages reviewed by The Publish.
The map, reviewed by The Publish, seems to have been made in Google Maps and has a transparent blue line, instructing the ambulance drivers to comply with an oblique route that prevented a lot of the evacuation space.
Ismail al-Ghoul, a correspondent with the Al Jazeera information company, mentioned he was sitting with the paramedics, Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, at al-Ahli hospital, after they acquired the map. The paramedics headed out rapidly to the placement the place Hind was trapped. It was roughly two miles away — down Beirut avenue, then proper, and onto al-Majdal Avenue.
“The small print have been utterly clear,” Ghoul mentioned.
The inexperienced laser — referred to as a dazzler — would usually recommend that the ambulance was recognized however not essentially focused by a floor unit working forward of the armed automobiles, in accordance with Avihai Stollar, a researcher with Breaking the Silence, an advocacy group composed of Israeli military veterans that oppose the occupation that compiled testimonies from former troopers.
The IDF, in response to questions from The Publish, didn’t make clear if the inexperienced dazzler belonged to its forces and what sign it might have been supposed to ship.
Social media posts from 2018 recommend that Hamas and different Palestinian resistance teams have additionally used inexperienced dazzlers to obscure Israeli troopers’ eyesight. Ashka Jhaveri, a researcher on the Institute for the Research of Battle, a bunch that intently screens conflicts, mentioned she had not noticed the usage of inexperienced dazzlers by both aspect on this battle.
6 p.m.
As the decision with the paramedics drops at 6 p.m., a bang is audible on the decision with Hind.
However the name with the lady continued, suggesting that cellphone service was not lower.
Pink Crescent dispatchers had managed to patch Hind’s mom, Wesam, into the decision within the hope that it would calm the kid.
When the bang echoed out by the cellphone line, Wesam cried out: “Hanood, are you okay?”
A second later, Hind replied.
“Sure,” she mentioned.
By this level, everybody on the decision with Hind — her household, the dispatchers — have been praying they might not lose her too. She was falling silent for lengthy intervals. The group did what they may to maintain her speaking, but it surely was clear that the kid’s ideas had begun to loop. She simply stored saying, “Come get me, rapidly.”
If the cellphone ran out of battery, Faqih instructed her, she was to remain within the automotive, the place they may nonetheless discover her. “If night time comes and we don’t come, shut your eyes so that you just don’t see the tanks.”
They misplaced contact along with her quickly after 6 p.m., spokeswoman Nebal Farsakh recalled.
Nobody spoke a lot after that. The room felt muffled with shock. They tried to name Hind time and again, Farsakh mentioned, however nobody answered.
Twelve days later
The ambulance had come to a cease the place a darkish spot resembling a scorch mark first appeared in satellite tv for pc imagery taken at 10:21 a.m. on Jan. 30 — the morning after contact with the paramedics and Hind have been misplaced.
When the IDF withdrew from the world almost two weeks afterward Feb. 10, Palestinian residents, together with Samir, Hind’s uncle, and a civil protection crew discovered a haunting scene.
The door and items of the hood of the household automotive had been torn off. Samir described his brother’s physique as “dangling” from the driving force’s seat. The stench of decomposing corpses clung to the automobile. He struggled to have a look at the our bodies of the 5 kids sandwiched on the again seat. Hind sat to the proper of Layan, who was behind the driving force. A web page from what appears like a coloring e book was crumpled the place their ft would have rested. The our bodies have been so decomposed that it was not potential instantly see the place the gunshots had hit them, Samir mentioned. “We have been solely capable of deduce their identities,” he recalled.
Holes within the Hamada household automotive have been most likely made by a 7.62 caliber machine gun, a weapon mounted to the Merkava, Namer and Puma, mentioned Andrew Galer, head of the land platform and weapons group at protection intelligence agency Janes, who examined photographs and video of the aftermath.
Armored automobiles, together with some that roughly match the scale of these seen within the Jan. 29 satellite tv for pc imagery, have been additionally current in the identical location a number of occasions within the following 12 days.
A fraction of a U.S.-made 120mm spherical, which may be fired by the Merkava, was seen in video and pictures after rescue crews searched the scenes.
The Publish was not capable of decide precisely the place simply north of the ambulance the fragment was initially discovered or if it was straight related to the ambulance strike given the time elapsed and the continuing combating.
The ambulance was a burned-out shell, video exhibits, and virtually nothing remained of the paramedics’ our bodies. There was a gap roughly 300 millimeters in diameter adjoining to the place the license plate would have been.
“The harm to the rear does seem like the exit of a projectile,” Chris Cobb-Smith, a safety guide and former artillery officer within the British military, wrote in a message, noting that it seemed to be “focused with a direct hearth munition” and was “roughly the scale of a tank shell.”
N.R. Jenzen-Jones, the director of Armament Analysis Providers, added it appeared to exit “the automobile comparatively degree to the bottom,” which suggests it was “fired from floor degree on a reasonably flat trajectory, somewhat than an air-delivered or indirect-fire munition.”
A spherical fired by a tank is only one chance, Jenzen-Jones and a number of different specialists cautioned, noting that there’s little information on craft-produced Hamas munitions and few exams have been carried out to foretell what would occur if different munitions have been used towards a thin-skinned automobile. Widespread rocket launchers utilized by Hamas are capable of hearth completely different antitank rounds, together with the usual PG-7, which couldn’t create the noticed harm, in accordance with munitions specialists.
Not one of the six munitions specialists interviewed by The Publish might say definitively what munition precipitated the harm or killed the paramedics based mostly on the ambulance alone due to the time elapsed and the complexity of city fight. They agreed, nevertheless, the harm to the ambulance was in line with the potential use of a spherical fired from Israeli tanks that match the automobiles captured in satellite tv for pc imagery within the space that day.
The seven our bodies of the Hamada household have been buried at al-Shifa Hospital. There was no medical report, Samir mentioned.
“All that mattered to us at that second was to retrieve them and bury them in an honest means.”
About this story
John Hudson in Washington, Hazem Balousha in Amman, Sarah Dadouch in Beirut, Jarrett Ley in New York and Imogen Piper in London contributed to this report.
Satellite tv for pc imagery supplied by Planet Labs. Graphics by Jarrett Ley. Design and improvement by Irfan Uraizee.
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