For 3-and-a-half lengthy hours on Jan. 29, the cellphone in 6-year previous Hind Rajab’s palms was the closest factor she needed to a lifeline. Alone within the again seat of a automotive outdoors a Gaza Metropolis gasoline station, she was drifting out and in of consciousness, surrounded by our bodies, as she informed emergency dispatchers that Israeli tanks had been rumbling nearer.
From the operations room of the Palestine Pink Crescent Companies (PRCS), roughly 50 miles away within the metropolis of Ramallah, the staff on obligation had achieved their greatest to avoid wasting the kid. Paramedics had been on their means, the dispatchers stored telling her: Maintain on.
The paramedics had been driving to their deaths.
Twelve days later, when a Palestinian civil protection crew lastly reached the realm, they discovered Hind’s physique in a automotive riddled with bullets, in response to 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 keeping with the usage of a spherical fired by Israeli tanks, in response to six munitions consultants.
In an announcement, the Israel Protection Forces stated they performed a preliminary investigation and that its forces had been “not current close to the car or inside the firing vary” of the Hamada household automotive. Nor, they stated, had they been required to offer the ambulance permission to enter the realm. The State Division stated it has raised the case repeatedly with the Israelis. “The Israelis informed us there had, in truth, been IDF models within the space, however the IDF had no data of or involvement in the kind of strike described,” stated spokesman Matt Miller.
A Washington Submit investigation discovered that Israeli armored automobiles had been current within the space within the afternoon, and that gunfire audible as Hind and her cousin Layan begged for assist, in addition to in depth injury brought about to the ambulance, are in keeping with Israeli weapons. The evaluation relies on satellite tv for pc imagery, contemporaneous dispatcher recordings, images and movies of the aftermath, interviews with 13 dispatchers, members of the family and rescue employees, and greater than a dozen army, satellite tv for pc, munitions and audio consultants who reviewed the proof, in addition to the IDF’s personal statements.
The Palestine Pink Current Society (PRCS) in addition to representatives from Euro-Med Monitor and the Civil Protection who visited the scene on Feb. 10 supplied visuals to The Submit, which it verified by independently confirming the situation utilizing satellite tv for pc imagery, open-source maps and eyewitness interviews.
The Submit’s overview additionally discovered that the ambulance was found alongside a route supplied by COGAT, an arm of the Israeli Protection Ministry that typically coordinates secure passage for medical automobiles with the IDF. COGAT initially referred particular questions in regards to the ambulance to the IDF. In mid-March, Elad Goren, head of Coordination and Liaison Administration at COGAT, informed The Submit that the company “coordinated all the pieces … together with the ambulance that wished to go and discover Hind,” however stated 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 professional findings, supplied by The Washington Submit.
It was not attainable 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 support deliveries and lifesaving ambulance maneuvers, is damaged. Israeli strikes on a World Central Kitchen convoy that killed seven support employees in Gaza on April 1 and stirred world outrage got here after failed deconfliction efforts.
Greater than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed throughout Israeli army operations in Gaza, in response to native well being authorities. Amid a struggle of unyielding horror, Hind’s case touched a nerve world wide, largely as a result of her recorded cries for assist provided a glimpse into the terrors confronted by civilians.
9:32 a.m.
Generations of the Hamada household had lived on al-Wahda Road 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 some 1,200 folks, together with civilians of their properties and younger folks 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, a lot of them a number of occasions, in response to 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 residence, 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 often called 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 together with her 4 cousins, Bashar’s brother Samir stated. They deliberate to drive north, out of the evacuation zone and again towards the household residence in northern Gaza Metropolis.
The woman screamed, and the decision dropped. “Good day,” Qam shouted. “Good day?”
Whereas Qam spoke to Layan, 62 gunshots are audible over six seconds in two bursts of fireside on a recording of the decision, in response to 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 Submit, and located the variety of rounds per minute fired was quicker than an computerized AK-patterned rifle, which Hamas fighters typically use. The speed, he stated, 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., resulted in lower than a minute.
A satellite tv for pc picture captured by Planet Labs roughly an hour later, at 3:31 p.m., exhibits not less than 4 Israeli armored automobiles round 300 meters up the street from the women.
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 Submit, stated the armored automobiles on the intersection closest to Hind are “tactically positioned” and seem to offer a “outstanding, 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 buildings just like not less than 4 Israeli tracked automobiles, in response to Goodhind. Of these, solely the Merkava tank has been seen in motion in Gaza, in response to Sonny Butterworth, senior analyst with the protection intelligence agency Janes. The equally sized Namer armored personnel service and Puma fight engineering car 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 stated. The weapons can hearth at a charge in keeping 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 had been transferring towards the automotive, she informed one other dispatcher, Rana Faqih. Hind described the presence of tanks not less than 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 secure entry to areas the place the scenario on the bottom is probably 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 — stated 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 staff on WhatsApp at 5:40 p.m., in response to messages reviewed by The Submit.
The map, reviewed by The Submit, 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, stated 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 situation the place Hind was trapped. It was roughly two miles away — down Beirut road, then proper, and onto Al Majdal Road.
“The main points had been utterly clear,” Ghoul stated.
The inexperienced laser — often called a dazzler — would usually counsel that the ambulance was recognized however not essentially focused by a floor unit working forward of the armed automobiles, in response to 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 Submit, didn’t make clear if the inexperienced dazzler belonged to its forces and what sign it could have been meant to ship.
Social media posts from 2018 counsel 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 gaggle that carefully screens conflicts, stated she had not noticed the usage of inexperienced dazzlers by both facet 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 woman continued, suggesting that cellphone service was not reduce.
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 means of the telephone line, Wesam cried out: “Hanood, are you okay?”
A second later, Hind replied.
“Sure,” she stated.
By this level, everybody on the decision with Hind — her household, the dispatchers — had been praying they’d not lose her too. She was falling silent for lengthy intervals. The staff did what they might 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 telephone ran out of battery, Faqih informed her, she was to remain within the automotive, the place they might nonetheless discover her. “If night time comes and we don’t come, shut your eyes so that you simply don’t see the tanks.”
They misplaced contact together 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 stated, 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 had been misplaced.
When the IDF withdrew from the realm almost two weeks in a while 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 motive force’s seat. The stench of decomposing corpses clung to the car. He struggled to take a look at the our bodies of the 5 kids sandwiched on the again seat. Hind sat to the suitable of Layan, who was behind the motive force. A web page from what seems to be like a coloring ebook was crumpled the place the their ft would have rested. The our bodies had been so decomposed that it was not attainable instantly see the place the gunshots had hit them, Samir stated. “We had been solely in a position to deduce their identities,” he recalled.
Holes within the Hamada household automotive had been in all probability made by a 7.62 caliber machine gun, a weapon mounted to the Merkava, Namer and Puma, stated Andrew Galer, head of the land platform and weapons staff at protection intelligence agency Janes, who examined images and video of the aftermath.
Armored automobiles, together with some that roughly match the dimensions of these seen within the Jan. 29 satellite tv for pc imagery, had 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 will be fired by the Merkava, was seen in video and pictures after rescue crews searched the scenes.
The Submit was not in a position to decide precisely the place simply north of the ambulance the fragment was initially discovered or if it was instantly 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’s our bodies. There was a gap roughly 300 millimeters in diameter adjoining to the place the license plate would have been.
“The injury to the rear does appear 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 dimensions of a tank shell.”
N.R. Jenzen-Jones, the director of Armament Analysis Companies, added it appeared to exit “the car comparatively degree to the bottom,” which suggests it was “fired from floor degree on a reasonably flat trajectory, fairly 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 consultants cautioned, noting that there’s little knowledge on craft-produced Hamas munitions and few checks have been achieved to foretell what would occur if different munitions had been used in opposition to a thin-skinned car. Widespread rocket launchers utilized by Hamas are in a position to hearth completely different antitank rounds, together with the usual PG-7, which couldn’t create the noticed injury, in response to munitions consultants.
Not one of the six munitions consultants interviewed by The Submit may say definitively what munition brought about the injury or killed the paramedics primarily based on the ambulance alone due to the time elapsed and the complexity of city fight. They agreed, nonetheless, the injury to the ambulance was in keeping 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 had been buried at al-Shifa Hospital. There was no medical report, Samir stated.
“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, and Jarrett Ley in New York contributed to this report.
Satellite tv for pc imagery supplied by Planet Labs. Graphics by Jarrett Ley. Design and improvement by Irfan Uraizee.
