‘Voice of Hind Rajab’ Director Slams Israeli Military Investigation Into 5-Year-Old Girl’s Death as a “Smokescreen”
The director of the Oscar-nominated docudrama The Voice of Hind Rajab has dismissed a newly announced Israeli military investigation into the death of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab as a "smokescreen". Kaouther Ben Hania argued that evidence of what happened, including satellite imagery, ballistic analysis and Hind's own recorded voice pleading for help, has been available for over two years, and questioned why Israel only launched a probe now. The row highlights ongoing tensions over accountability for civilian deaths in Gaza and the credibility of investigations conducted by the parties accused of wrongdoing.
Israel's military said this week it had fired on the Rajab family's car and an ambulance sent to rescue them in Gaza City in January 2024, killing all six occupants of the car and two paramedics, as the family tried to flee an Israeli incursion. Ben Hania and Hind's mother, Wesam Hamada, both called for an independent inquiry instead, with Hamada telling the Associated Press the delayed announcement was an attempt to "distract" and improve the army's image. The film, which incorporates real audio of Hind and her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamada calling for help, has received Oscar and BAFTA nominations and won the Venice Film Festival's grand jury prize.
- Director Kaouther Ben Hania calls Israeli probe into Hind Rajab's death a "smokescreen"
- Israeli military admits firing on family's car and ambulance in January 2024
- Rajab's mother and director demand an independent investigation instead
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Kaouther Ben Hania is a Tunisian director whose film The Voice of Hind Rajab dramatises the death of a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed with five relatives in Gaza City in January 2024, using real recordings of Hind's calls for help before she died. The film has since been nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA and won a top prize at the Venice Film Festival, bringing renewed international attention to the case.
Israel's military has now opened its own investigation into the incident, more than two years after it happened, and has acknowledged that its forces fired on the family's car and on an ambulance sent to rescue them, killing all six people in the car and two paramedics. Ben Hania and Hind's mother, Wesam Hamada, say extensive evidence about what happened has existed for a long time and are asking why the inquiry has come only now.
The dispute sits within a wider debate about how civilian deaths in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war are investigated, and whether inquiries carried out by a military into its own conduct can be seen as independent and trustworthy.