Film allows us to listen to Hind Rajab, who speaks for all Gaza's murdered children

The Voice of Hind Rajab is a disturbing, deeply moving film. Through a simple phone call, the film lays bare the horror of war for children and ordinary families, and we must heed Hind’s voice and we must not be silent in the face of inhumanity

A mural tribute to Hind Rajab, at Izz Cafe in Cork by mural artist Blanca Cabrera Rice, pictured

Hind Rajab’s voice stayed with me long after the credits rolled on The Voice of Hind Rajab. The terrified six-year-old girl’s pleas over the phone to the Palestine Red Crescent Society are harrowing to hear, particularly when we know the horrific outcome. 

On January 29, 2024, Hind was fleeing Gaza City with her aunt, uncle and four cousins when their car was attacked. Everyone in the car, bar Hind, were killed, and she was left alone, surrounded by her dead relatives, pleading for help.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society spoke on the phone with Hind for more than three hours while they did everything they could to coordinate with the authorities to safely send an ambulance to her rescue. 

After a painstaking wait, they finally received the green light and sent two paramedics, Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, to rescue Hind. They made it to within 50m of her location before contact was lost.

Twelve days later, Hind and both paramedics, Yusuf and Ahmed, were found dead.

The Voice of Hind Rajab is a film made in close cooperation with our colleagues in Palestine Red Crescent Society. It is a disturbing, deeply moving film. Through a simple phone call, the film lays bare the horror of war for children and ordinary families. 

Hind Rajab, 6, who was found dead in Gaza almost two weeks after calling for help

It also captures the immense risk faced by humanitarian workers trying to help children like Hind and the horrific outcome for some of those brave and selfless first responders.

How could Hind, a six-year-old little girl be killed in such horrific circumstances? A six-year-old in the Butterfly class in Happy Childhood preschool, who loved playing on the beach with her baby brother?

Less than a year later, in March 2025, the final words of another Red Crescent colleague, Rifat Radwan, were recorded on his phone just before he, and 14 other paramedics, were killed.

“Forgive me mother, I chose this path to help people.” Since 2022, (according to UN Human Rights Count), there has been a steady increase in the number of children, civilians and humanitarian workers targeted and killed in conflicts around the globe. We cannot allow this erosion of our humanitarian values to continue.

What happened to Hind, Yusuf and Ahmed should never have happened. Under international humanitarian law, civilians, humanitarian and medical personnel can never be targets. We must demand accountability for Hind’s death and the tens of thousands of children like her who have been killed in the occupied Palestinian territory, and in other conflicts around the world. 

A still from 'The Voice of Hind Rajab'.

We must demand first responders like Yusuf and Ahmed can help civilians safely, without fear of being targeted. We must demand that states, and those fighting in armed conflict, adhere to international humanitarian law, and hold to account those who do not abide by the law.

We might ask — does the law ever work? How can we have faith in international humanitarian law when it did not protect Hind and her rescuers? 

While we cannot quantify it, we know it can and does work; every time an ambulance in a war zone safely reaches someone in need, every time an aid truck successfully passes through a checkpoint, and every time a hospital or school is spared from attack. But this should be the norm, from which there should not be any deviation.

Nisreen Qawas, director of the Mental Health Department at Palestine Red Crescent Society was one of the primary responders who spoke on the phone with Hind, trying to calm and comfort her. As Nisreen put it, Hind Rajab is “the heard voice of all the unheard voices of the 20,000 children killed in Gaza” in the last two years.

We must heed Hind’s voice and we must not be silent in the face of inhumanity.

• Deirdre Garvey is secretary general of the Irish Red Cross
• Light House cinema, Dublin, will screen The Voice of Hind Rajab today, Tuesday January 20, at 6pm, after which the Irish Red Cross will host a live, expert panel discussion and Q&A about international humanitarian law and what people in Ireland can do to demand its respect around the world. To join this important conversation and book tickets visit: The Voice of Hind Rajab: Film Screening and Panel Discussion Irish Red Cross