The Voice of Hind Rajab

The genocide unfolding in Gaza prompted director Kaouther Ben Hania to make her most urgent film yet, about a five-year-old Palestinian girl named Hind Rajab. The Voice of Hind Rajab reconstructs the shocking, true events surrounding her killing based on the original telephone conversations between Hind and the emergency services.

29 January 2024. Volunteers from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society receive an emergency call. A five-year-old girl, Hind Rajab, is trapped in a car in Gaza under Israeli fire and is begging for help. While the emergency responders try to keep her on the phone, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. But without permission from the Israeli army, no vehicle can be allowed in. They wait for hours for a response, but in the end, all help comes too late. Hind’s voice remains as a testimony.

The scenes in the emergency services control room have been reconstructed and staged, based on eyewitness accounts and transcripts; the voices on the audio tapes are real. Kaouther Ben Hania: ‘This story is about our shared responsibility (…) and how the silence of the world is part of the violence’.