The Palestinian Red Crescent’s posting was an agonizing appeal, hoping to learn the fate of three people who were not notified for five days.
“Where’s Hind? Where are Ahmed and Yousef? We have to learn,” he said.
Two of the team’s rescuers were sent on Monday to find 6-year-old Hid Rajab, who was believed to be trapped in a vehicle in northern Gaza with several dead family members.
The Red Crescent said one of its workers spoke at length with Hid on the phone on Monday and that he believed all six of her relatives in the vehicle with her were killed that day by Israeli fire.
The Israeli military said it was not aware of the incident.
The Red Crescent said in a statement on Saturday night, “118 hours have passed and the fate of the PRCS ambulance team, Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al Madhoun, who went to rescue the 6-year-old girl, Hind, remains unknown. “
It was the latest in a series of desperate posts the aid group has published every day since the rescuers went missing, counting down the hours since their disappearance in a bid to draw attention to the plight of all three.
The Red Crescent said a response coordinator, Rana al-Fakeh, spoke to Hid for more than three hours on Monday afternoon, trying to calm the frightened child.
“Come get me,” Hind pleaded, according to audio sign up of the conversation published on social media on Tuesday by the Red Crescent. “I’m scared. Please come. Get someone to come get me.” The record could not be independently verified.
As the sun set, Hid told Ms al-Fakeh that she was afraid of the dark. Ms al-Faqeh told reporters she tried to reassure her, saying they were trying to send people to rescue her.
After Ms al-Faqeh spoke to Hind, the Red Crescent sent the two rescuers by ambulance to her vehicle in Gaza City, which was located near a petrol station. Rescuers confirmed they arrived around 6pm on Monday.
Then they lost touch and haven’t spoken since.
The Red Crescent said it had coordinated the ambulance’s movements with the Israeli army, which invaded Gaza after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the Palestinian armed group that controls the territory. Similar coordination is being done by other aid organizations operating in Gaza, including UN agencies.
The Red Crescent called on the international community to press the Israeli army to account for what happened.
The group said it first learned of Hind’s plight from her family members elsewhere in Gaza City. They gave the organization a phone number of someone in the car.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic broadcast on Wednesday, Hind’s mother said she spoke on Monday with her daughter and an older cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamadeh, who was in the car with her.
The Red Crescent? Hind’s mother, who was not named in the interview. and an uncle, Issam Hamadeh, who was also interviewed by Al Jazeera, all said Layan’s parents and three siblings were killed.
The Red Crescent said it also spoke briefly to Layan on Monday. When he answered the phone, he panicked, according to another audio sign up posted Tuesday by the organization on social media.
“They are shooting at us. The tank is next to us,” Laian said sign up, which could not be independently verified. Then a volley of gunfire is heard. He screams before the line goes silent.
Red Crescent said she believed Layan, too, had been killed. Hind’s mother said in the Al Jazeera interview that her daughter also said Layan was dead.
Hind’s mother told Al Jazeera that she tried to calm her daughter by reciting verses from the Koran and praying. But he had to hang up so the Red Crescent could call Hind and find out where he was.
Her mother said one of the last things Heed said to her was, “Don’t leave me, Mom. I am hungry. I hit.”
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed to the report.
