'Where is Hind': 6-year-old Palestinian girl missing after family's murder

By Humaira Ahad

“I am so scared, please come.

Please call someone to come and take me

What time is it?

How far is your home from me? Come and take me

It is getting dark and I am afraid of the dark

Take me

Come take me, will you come and take me?” 

This was the heartbreaking refrain of Hind Rajab’s three-hour conversation with a Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) worker in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The PRCS staffer tried in vain to pacify the 6-year-old Hind as she found herself amid Israeli tanks indiscriminately firing artillery at their car, with the dead bodies of six of her close family members lying around her.

This tragedy unfolded on January 29 when Bashar Hamada, Hind’s maternal uncle, decided to escape the brutal bombardment of the occupying Israeli regime.

Hamada tried to flee from his home in southern Gaza to save his family from the looming threat of death that has engulfed the entire coastal territory since October 7.

On his way to a place designated “safe”, he was stopped by the Israeli army in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in the south of the besieged strip.

The stoppage was followed by a shower of bullets at Hamada’s car, which killed him, his wife and three of their children on the spot.

Amongst Hamada’s children, only Layan survived with her cousin Hind.

Layan, a 15-year-old teenage girl had strong willpower and indomitable courage. Even though her parents were killed in cold blood after their car was shelled by the regime forces, she mustered the courage to contact the PRCS, thinking she would be rescued and would survive.

“They are shooting at us, the tank is next to me, we are in the car next to the tank,” were her words to PCRS, ending in deafening screams amid the sound of heavy gunfire.

The teenager’s heart-wrenching screams that are heard in the audio released by the Red Crescent were followed by complete silence, indicating her murder by the occupying forces.

Layan’s killing left 6-year-old Hind alone in an area controlled by the regime forces and surrounded by the corpses of her family members.

The audio recording of Layan pleading for help as she and her six-year-old cousin were surrounded by Israeli tanks was shared by the PRCS on its X handle last week.

The audio has gone viral on social media and has gained millions of views.

The PRCS said Layan was shot dead as she was speaking on the phone with their crew while Hind was still trapped inside the vehicle.

On Monday, PCRS reported that the regime forces had held 6-year-old Hind inside a vehicle in the Fares Gas Station area in Gaza City, after murdering her family.

The PCRS worker who spoke with Hind said the little girl’s situation has been one of the most painful cases of her career.

It made her feel completely helpless, imagining how difficult the environment could be for an innocent 6-year-old child.

The Red Crescent Society employee said the thought that Hind is stranded there with six dead bodies of her family is terrifying.

Around 6 pm local time on Monday the PRCS team reached the area to rescue Hind who as per the last update remained trapped alone in a car with the dead bodies of her uncle, aunt and cousins scattered around her.

The PRCS team had informed and coordinated with the Israeli authorities before dispatching an ambulance to the location but the NGO lost all contact with its crew after the team went to retrieve the girl.

“Around 6:00 PM, our teams reached the area where Hind was trapped inside the vehicle, which had been shot near the Fares petrol station in Gaza. Since then, we lost contact with the team, and as of now, we are uncertain if our teams successfully reached the girl,” PRCS noted in a statement.

PCRS said on Tuesday that even after 24 hours it has not been able to establish contact with its team of paramedics that was sent to rescue the 6-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in a vehicle surrounded by Israeli tanks.

The Red Crescent Society expressed deep concern about the safety of Hind and the two PCRS workers, Yousef and Ahmed, who were in the ambulance to rescue Hind.

Worried about little Hind, netizens took to social media to voice their concern.

Dr Abusalama, a British-Palestinian activist, said Layan’s terrified voice is continuously echoing in her ears as the six-year-old Hind is begging the world to save her, while the Israeli tanks and soldiers consider the little girl a threat.

In a post on X, Reem Al- +Harmi, a writer from Qatar, described the audio clip shared by PCRS as “chilling.”

Jehad Affoneh, a social media user from California, regarded Hind’s story as especially heart-breaking with no news about her survival.

Affoneh said that preventing help from reaching the injured is not a new practice for the apartheid Israeli regime, as it has been doing the same in the occupied West Bank as well.

More than 42 hours have passed and the fate and whereabouts of little Hind and PRCS rescue team members remains unknown.

Was Hind rescued or is she still trapped is a question that has been disturbing people across the globe.

In an update on Friday, Times of Gaza said it has been three days “since anything has been heard from the young girl Hind, or the rescue team sent by the PCRS to help evacuate her to safety.”

In a statement on Thursday night, PRCS said 66 hours have passed but the fate of its workers, Yousef Zaino and Ahmad Al-Madhoun as well as that of 6-year-old Hind remains unknown.

“We appeal to the international community to assist and intervene to protect civilians and health care and humanitarian workers,” it wrote.