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Hind Rajab, Palestinian child killed by Israel, honoured one year after her death

Social media users commemorate the five-year-old Palestinian girl who was trapped in a car with her dead family and shot by Israeli tank fire in Gaza
A protestor holds a picture of Hind Rajab and a representation of a child victim during a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza in Dublin, 5 October 2024 (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

"I'm so scared, please come. Please call someone to come and take me."

Five-year-old Hind Rajab's pleas for help hours before she was killed by the Israeli military sent shockwaves around the world a year ago on Wednesday.

The Palestinian child was fleeing Israel's assault on Tel al-Hawa, south of Gaza City, with her family when their car came under fire by Israeli forces. 

On 10 February 2024, Hind Rajab was found dead after nearly two weeks of being trapped inside a car with her dead family while being surrounded by Israeli military forces and being subject to fire.

Two paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS), Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, who were dispatched to rescue Rajab after she called pleading for help from inside the vehicle, were also found dead.

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The PRCS later released an audio recording of the last phone call with Hind on 29 January, during which her final cries for help can be heard amid the rattle of gunfire. 

"Please come get me," Rajab can be heard saying multiple times.

One year after her killing, social media users across the world are posting pictures of Hind to honour her memory and demand justice and accountability for her death and those of other Palestinians.

"Hind Rajab. One year since she and her family were tragically taken by an army that calls itself the most moral," posted one user on X, formerly Twitter.

"Hind Rajab’s memory will live forever - just as the spirit of Palestine will never be extinguished," posted Jewish Voice for Peace, an American anti-Zionist organisation alongside a photograph of Rajab with the text: "Hind's legacy will live forever."

"Hind, and all children her age, should be able to spend their time laughing and playing with friends, surrounded by love - not witnessing unimaginable tragedy, only to become its victim."

Several posts also called upon readers to "never forget" Hind and to "tell her story".

Several users also recalled western media coverage of Rajab's killing, highlighting what they said was biased language used to obscure the circumstances of her death.

"The BBC never even bothered to update this shameful headline," writer and Middle East history scholar Assal Rad wrote on X, referring to a BBC news headline which says that Hind was "found dead in Gaza". 

Other users highlighted media reports at the time that "adultified" Rajab, referring to the child as "a woman" and "young lady", language they said was used "to protect Israel's image".

A vigil in her memory is due to take place in New York on Wednesday evening.

Symbol for Palestinian resistance

An investigation by Forensic Architecture, Al Jazeera's Fault Lines and the NGO Earshot later revealed that the car in which Rajab was killed had been hit with 335 bullets, with most of the entries coming from the right side of the vehicle. 

The investigation also found that the Israeli tank that fired upon the vehicle Rajab was trapped inside must have been positioned within 13 to 23 metres when it killed Layan, Rajab's 15-year-old cousin.

"It's not plausible that the shooter could not have seen that the car was occupied by civilians, including children," the investigator concluded. 

Her death became a symbol for pro-Palestine protesters all around the world.

At Columbia University in New York City, student demonstrators took over and occupied a building on campus and renamed it "Hind's Hall" in honour of Rajab.

The song "Hind's Hall" by American rapper Macklemore, which has since become a pro-Palestinian anthem, is a reference to the building.

A mural in the Irish capital Dublin was painted in commemoration of her death.  

Lebanese political activist and writer Dyab Abou Jahjah co-founded the Hind Rajab Foundation, an advocacy and accountability organisation "to honour her memory by fighting for justice and accountability for victims like her".

"When Hind Rajab was murdered exactly a year ago today, it broke my heart. As a father to a girl her age, I could hardly bear the horror she endured, or the unimaginable pain her parents must have felt," Jahjah said.

"Today, her name echoes across the globe, a presence that haunts her killers. Little Hind is more powerful than they ever imagined.

"Rest in peace, little angel, you will never be forgotten."

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