Hind Rajab, the five-year-old Palestinian child killed by Israeli fire while stranded in a car with her dead family members, has been nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
The nomination was submitted by Khaled Beydoun, a law professor at Arizona State University, in collaboration with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).
Her nomination is to honour "every Palestinian child whose life has been stolen by war and genocide" and serves as a statement “to recognise the relentless horror children in Gaza have endured” in almost two years of conflict, Mr Beydoun wrote on Instagram.
More than 1,300 children have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s war began. UN officials have repeatedly warned that the enclave has become a “graveyard for children”.
One of them was Hind. She had been with her mother’s uncle and his wife, as well as four other children, in a car in Gaza city when an Israeli tank fired at them. All were killed instantly, except for Hind and her cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamadeh.
Layan was the first to alert the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) that the car had been surrounded by Israeli forces. “They’re shooting at us,” she said in a phone call, before her screams went quiet and the line dropped. When the PRCS called back, Hind answered. She was sitting in a car with six bodies.
Her body was found riddled with bullets after a phone call of her pleading for help was shared widely on social media.
The nomination comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented US President Donald Trump with a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, amid Gaza ceasefire talks.
Hind’s nomination was “planned long before Trump's,” Mr Beydoun wrote. “We can't think of a stronger statement and response.”
Mr Netanyahu's status as head of state and Mr Beydoun's position as university professor mean they are both eligible to submit a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
law professor at Arizona State University
Hind's mother had been able to join a three-way call with her daughter and the operatives – the last time she would hear her voice. Hind told her mother she was injured in her arm, back and leg, and was bleeding from her mouth, before contact was lost for 12 days.
"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," Hind’s mother told The National last year.
Hind’s body was retrieved on February 10 and investigators found 335 bullet holes in the car she had been sheltering in.
Analysis by UK research agency Forensic Architecture found it was "not plausible that the shooter could not have seen that the car was occupied by civilians, including children". Two paramedics who were sent to the scene to save Hind were also killed, and the ambulance they were travelling in had been struck by Israeli forces, the PRCS said.
Hind’s death sparked global outrage and calls of solidarity, with US singer Macklemore releasing a song named after her. Students at Columbia University renamed a building on the campus in her honour.
“Hind’s story must never be forgotten. Her voice must never be silenced,” Mr Beydoun said.
