World
Giant portrait of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab was unfurled on a Barcelona beach Thursday, marking two years since her death in Gaza’s war. Her mother appealed for international attention to the plight of Gaza’s children during the protest.
Rajab’s anguished final pleas for help while being trapped in a car under Israeli fire were recounted in the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” which won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival last year and is nominated for an Academy Award. During Israel’s offensive in response to a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Rajab was pinned down in the car for hours, begging Palestinian medics over a mobile phone to send help. Her aunt, uncle, and three cousins already lay dead.
When an ambulance finally arrived twelve days later, contact with Rajab and the rescuers was lost. Twelve days after the incident, their bodies were recovered from the area.
In Barcelona, several hundred people held up a 180-foot-long tarp featuring Rajab’s face next to a large Palestinian flag, reading “Free Gaza’s Children.” “The children of Gaza do not ask for pity,” said Hind’s mother, Wesam Hamada, 29, as she watched the hoisting. “They ask for their right to live, to sleep without fear, to play without bombs, to grow up, just to grow.”
Jordanian-Canadian actress Saja Kilani, who played a Palestinian Red Crescent first responder in the film and attended the beach protest, said, “The voice of Hind Rajab did not stay in the car; it traveled across borders.”
Asked about the deaths of Hind and her relatives this week, Israeli military officials said the incident remained under review. They declined to comment further, stating they never deliberately targeted civilians during the war, with Hamas using them for cover.
The United Nations has characterized the humanitarian situation in Gaza as dire three months into an Israel-Hamas ceasefire following a two-year conflict that devastated the territory. Aid agencies report shortages of shelter, food, and basic services including healthcare among children, who are among the hardest-hit.