Hind Rajab’s voice still haunts Palestine Red Crescent dispatchers
“I don’t feel judged. But I do feel guilty — twice. First, because I could not save Hind Rajab. Second, because I sent Yousef and Ahmad into what became a trap,” says Mahdi Aljamal, who was in charge of coordinating the rescue of the 6-year-old Palestinian girl on 29 January 2024.
What could have been an eight-minute mission became a day-long, excruciating effort that had a devastating end. Hind Rajab’s call recording with the Palestine Red Crescent Society dispatchers from the car full of dead relatives became a defining testimony of Israel’s genocide in Gaza that continues to kill Palestinians despite a fragile ceasefire.
Hind was fleeing from her home in a car with her relatives, which was targeted by Israeli forces. The first call to dispatchers came from Layan Hamada, Hind’s cousin. At that time, Layan was the only other survivor in the car besides Hind.
After a series of audible shots, Layan can be heard screaming until her voice stops. According to Forensic Architecture, in the final moments of Layan’s voice, a total of 64 gunshots can be heard, fired in just 6 seconds.
It's after some time, Hind picks up the phone and pleads with the dispatchers to save her. Mahdi had to listen to the heartbreaking conversation between the dispatchers and Hind while coordinating the rescue operation.
“It was one of the hardest days in my entire career with the PRCS. But the truth is that Hind Rajab’s voice is the voice of all Gazan children. I have lived through hundreds of cases—children crying for help, women begging for rescue, elderly people trapped and terrified,” Mahdi said.
The intense hours spent inside the headquarters of the Palestine Red Crescent Society since the call from Hind Rajab are carefully depicted in the docufiction film by Oscar-nominated director Kaouther Ben Hania, titled “Voice of Hind Rajab”.
The film blends actual recordings and enactments of the first responders who tried to save her. The film won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, where it received the longest standing ovation in film festival history.
It is Tunisia’s official submission for the 98th Academy Awards.
“As the Acting Head of Disaster Risk Management at PRCS HQ, responsible for both the West Bank and Gaza, I was the main focal point for coordinating ambulance movement in Gaza. All communication with the ICRC, the Ministry of Health, and other national and international bodies fell under my responsibility,” Aljamal explained in a WhatsApp response after our brief meeting in Doha.
“The events of 29 January 2024 did not change the procedure of how I work—but they changed my life. The killing of Hind Rajab, the Hamada family, and our team members, Yousef and Ahmad, broke something inside me. I resigned the very next day, 30 January 2024, because I simply could no longer carry the weight of that office.”
“I began to hate everything connected to that day: my office, my laptop, the VHF radio, even my chair. I could not look into the eyes of my team, my line manager, or my colleagues in Gaza anymore. I reached a point where I could not continue,” Mahdi Aljamal told Maktoob.
Journalists have mapped a total of 335 bullet holes on the body of the car Hind was found with six relatives. The bodies of two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics, Youssef Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, missing since the evening of the call when they were dispatched to rescue Hind, were discovered in their ambulance about 50 metres away two weeks later.
Speaking during a panel at Doha Film Festival, the filmmaker and the actors said their work was not just a reminder but a call for action to end the sufferings of children in Gaza.
The film crew was accompanied by Hind Rajab’s mother and the PRCS crew, who were depicted in the film. Along with Mahdi was Omar A. Alqam, the first person to attend Rajab’s call, Rana Hassan Faqih, who kept talking to Rajab till the end and Nisreen Jeries Qawas, one of the last people to speak to Hind Rajab after she went quiet for some time.
Medics became targets
“Hind Rajab is only one of the 20,000 children killed in Gaza,” Qawas, director of mental health and psychosocial support at PRCS, told Maktoob. She emphasised the risk taken by the paramedics. “They went to the mission knowing it's a 50-50 survival or dying. They knew what could happen. But they didn’t say, ‘No, I won’t go’.”
During the panel discussion at DFF, Rana Hassan broke down in tears. Omar said the whole episode was “hard”, but in spite they continued the work.
PRCS was frequently targeted by Israeli forces during the two years of genocide in Gaza that killed over 70,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children.
Ambulances, medical workers and rescue workers came under fire for attempting to save people. In March this year, at least 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers, who went to southern Gaza for a rescue operation, were shot dead after Israeli forces opened fire on their vehicles. The convoy included PRCS ambulances, a UN car and a fire truck.
They were missing for days before their bodies were found on 30 March in a mass grave after a nine-day search.
“That day was especially difficult because my own team was directly involved in the operation. I was listening to Hind’s voice, watching Rana’s tears, Omar’s emotional reaction, and seeing Nisreen trying to calm both the team and Hind’s mother. At the same time, I had to force myself to work professionally instead of emotionally,” Mahdi recollects.
“The fear I always had—that sending an ambulance could mean losing the crew—became reality. We lost two paramedics, Ahmad and Yousef, both of whom I knew personally. That day, everything changed.”
“I coordinated the mission because the situation demanded it. Coordination with the ICRC and others is essential, but it never guarantees safety. That truth is something I will carry with me forever,” he added.
