JERUSALEM (AP) 鈥� The mother of a who was found dead days after Israeli forces fired on her family鈥檚 car in Gaza City wants an independent inquiry into her death, saying an Israeli military investigation is insufficient.
Wesam Hamada said her daughter Hind Rajab鈥檚 final pleas still haunt her.
鈥淎ll I remember is her voice pleading, 鈥楳ama, I鈥檓 scared. Mama, I鈥檓 hungry. Mama, I鈥檓 hurt,鈥�” she said. 鈥淗er voice keeps repeating in my ears.鈥�
The widely publicized recording of Hind’s January 2024 phone call with her mother and emergency dispatchers made her one of the Israel-Hamas war鈥檚 most prominent casualties.
Israel鈥檚 military this week admitted to firing at the family鈥檚 car as it fled an Israeli invasion and firing toward an ambulance dispatched to help them.
It said it would launch a criminal investigation into its troops鈥� conduct. All six people in the car and two paramedics were killed. But both Rajab鈥檚 family and emergency responders from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society doubt the Israeli investigation can deliver justice.
鈥淲hy did the investigation and the acknowledgment of the shooting at Hind鈥檚 car and at the paramedics come only after more than two years?鈥� Hamada said in an interview with The Associated Press. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an attempt to distract from what鈥檚 happening in Gaza and improve the (Israeli) army鈥檚 image to the world. That鈥檚 it.”
A call to paramedics heard around the world
The story of their deaths drew international outcry after the Palestinian Red Crescent Society released of Hind and her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamada calling for help. It was further amplified by 鈥淭he Voice of Hind Rajab,鈥� a film that excerpted the recordings and was .
On the , as audible gunfire erupts around them, Hamada asks for help and tells Red Crescent dispatchers that her family had been killed. Seconds later, more gunshots are heard, and Layan鈥檚 screaming stops.
Ambulance dispatchers called back and found Hind on the other end of the line. She told them Layan was dead and Israeli tanks were advancing. The Red Crescent sent an ambulance and stayed in contact with Hind until the call dropped.
Hind and five relatives were found dead in the family car 12 days later. The two medics sent to rescue her were also found dead nearby, their ambulance blackened and destroyed.
Israel initially said its troops were not in the area. A and found evidence placing Israeli forces near the car and attributed the attack to them.
Rana Al Faqih, a dispatcher who was in contact with Hind for more than three hours, said the day remains seared in her memory. She tried to calm Hind and patched her mother onto the call to comfort her.
An impartial investigation is the only way to deliver justice to Hind’s family and the families of emergency workers, she said in an interview at the Red Crescent headquarters in Ramallah, West Bank.
Advocates doubt Israeli investigation can bring accountability
The investigation is one of two criminal probes the military announced Wednesday after reviewing roughly 150 incidents.
Military investigators will now take up the probes and present their findings to military prosecutors. The military advocate general can then decide to keep investigating, indict any soldiers or decline to charge them.
Israeli officials say the country鈥檚 justice system can address any violations by its troops. But such investigations rarely lead to indictments. Just 0.17% of incidents reviewed from 2014 and 2022 led to prosecution, according to an analysis by Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
The Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation 鈥� which campaigns for the arrest of Israeli troops it accuses of war crimes 鈥� said in a statement on Wednesday that an Israeli military investigation 鈥渟hould not be mistaken for a genuine step toward justice.鈥�
鈥淚srael鈥檚 internal investigations into the criminal conduct of its own soldiers are fundamentally flawed and cannot be regarded as credible mechanisms of accountability,鈥� it said.
Sorrow shared by mothers across Gaza
The Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and abducted 251 others. More than 73,400 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive since, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants but says women and children constitute about half the deaths.
Hamada said her pain since the killing of Hind 鈥� who had wanted to become a doctor 鈥� was not unique.
鈥淭he pain is like the pain of every mother who has lost her child in Gaza,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou wish she were in front of you, growing up and fulfilling your dreams and her dreams, and then you lose her in the most horrific circumstances.鈥�
__ Ibrahim Hazboun in Jerusalem, and Haitham Hamed in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed reporting.
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