Missing Gaza girl Hind Rajab's mother hopeful despite 'brutal' last contact with daughter

Six-year-old told her mother over the phone she was wounded while trapped in car with relatives killed by Israeli attack

Hind Rajab, 6, was last seen in a car with family members on January 29, as they tried to flee from approaching Israeli forces in Gaza city. AFP

Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza

Wissam Hamadah spends her days at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza city, waiting for word of her 6-year-old daughter Hind Rajab.

She last spoke to her daughter on January 29, when Hind told her she was wounded and bleeding out of her mouth, after the car she was in came under attack by Israeli forces.

Eight days have passed since what Ms Hamadah describes as the “most brutal” phone call in her life, but she refuses to give up hope.

"I am not even 1 per cent convinced that she's dead," she tells The National.

According to her mother, on January 29, Hind was seated in her family's parked car at Al Faris petrol station in Gaza city, about 2.5 kilometres away from Al Ahli Arab Hospital.

The girl was with her mother’s uncle and his wife, and four other children, who were in the car to shelter from the rain.

Ms Hamadah herself was with other members of the family on foot nearby when Israeli troops reportedly opened fire on the car.

She says she could not get back to the car to get her daughter, which was the last time she saw her.

Ms Hamadah says her youngest son, Eyad, was initially told to stay in the car with the other children but decided to "jump out of the window" to be with his mother - a decision that probably saved his life.

The car was then surrounded by Israeli forces, Hind’s cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamadeh, told the Palestinian Red Crescent in a phone call.

“They’re shooting at us,” she told the Palestinian Red Crescent, against a backdrop of gunfire. Layan’s screams eventually went quiet, before the line dropped, audio released by the PRCS shows.

The PRCS believes that Layan, along with the five other people in the car other than Hind, were killed.

'Most brutal phone call'

After the line between Layan and the PRCS dropped dead, the organisation rang back, but the phone was answered by Hind, who was still trapped in the car.

By then, Hind was sitting in a car with six bodies.

The PRCS says it stayed on the phone with Hind for at least two hours, while its paramedics sought authorisation to move towards the location.

Hind's mother says she was able to join a three-way call with her daughter and Red Crescent operatives.

During the call, Hind told her mother that Israeli tanks were approaching the car, Ms Hamadah tells The National.

"We kept telling her to stay down, and not to move, so that the Israelis don't know she's still alive," she recalls.

Hind told her she that she was injured in her arm, back and leg, Ms Hamadah says, and that she was beginning to bleed from her mouth.

"It was the most brutal phone call of my life. Hearing my daughter injured, crying and screaming and not being able to do anything to help her," she said.

Eventually, Hind said she could see the blinking red lights of an ambulance, before the phone line to both Hind and the PRCS dropped simultaneously, Ms Hamadah says.

The PRCS had dispatched an ambulance with two paramedics to the scene, but they have not been heard from since.

Neither has Hind, whose disappearance has caught international attention online under the trending question, "Where is Hind?"

Today, Ms Hamadah, 27, says she is prepared to walk back there to find out what happened, but it would mean risking being killed by Israeli forces who remain in the area.

She says her son Eyad is badly affected by Hind's disappearance.

"He's a little boy but he refuses to eat no matter what we bring him. He keeps saying he'll eat when his sister comes back," she says.

The National contacted the Israeli military for comment on why a civilian vehicle was targeted, and on the whereabouts of Hind and the two Red Crescent workers, but has yet to receive a promised "thorough response".