This picture taken from Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip shows Israeli army vehicles driving along the border with the Palestinian territory on April 16, 2024. (Credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP)
The Washington Post published on Tuesday the results of an extensive investigation into the highly publicized death of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old girl who, stuck in the back seat of a car in Gaza and surrounded by the bodies of her family, pleaded with dispatchers to be rescued as Israeli tanks closed in. Two Red Crescent paramedics were on their way — then nothing.
Twelve days later, Hind's body was found in the car, along with those of her four cousins, her uncle, and her aunt. The Hamada family's car was riddled with bullets. The ambulance was a charred shell, roughly 50 meters away.
The Washington Post investigation, which includes a detailed timeline, extensive satellite imagery analysis, and interviews with eyewitnesses, confirmed that the ambulance’s destruction was “consistent with the use of a round fired by Israeli tanks," citing six munition experts.
The Israeli army claims its forces were “not present near the vehicle or within firing range,” but the US State Department said Israel had informed it that Israeli army units were in fact in the area when the Hamada family was killed — and the WP investigation came to the same conclusion.
It analyzed the sound of gunfire in the background of the recorded phone call between Hind and dispatchers and determined it to be consistent with Israeli weapons. Satellite imagery showed at least four Israeli armored vehicles around 300 meters up the road from where Hind was sheltering in her car.
The WP also found that the ambulance had been traveling along a route designated by COGAT for the “safe passage” of medical vehicles.