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Hind Rajab’s mother hopes film about slain child helps end war
The mother of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, has said she hoped that a film about her final moments to be screened at the Venice Film Festival will help end the war.
Rajab’s body was recovered from a car riddled with bullets in Gaza City, days after her voice was heard in a desperate phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent on January 29, 2024.
An investigation later revealed that an Israeli tank shell directly hit the ambulance that was dispatched to help her. Her death sparked international outrage and calls for an independent probe.
The film, The Voice of Hind Rajab, one of 21 features competing at the Venice festival, incorporates original audio recordings of her emergency call.
Her 29-year-old mother, Wissam Hamada, said her daughter’s voice “has become heard all over the world and she will never be forgotten”.
“I hope this film will help stop this destructive war and save the other children of Gaza,” she told AFP before the film’s premiere in the Italian city on Wednesday.
Amnesty condemns arrests of pro-Palestinian campaigners
Amnesty International has condemned the arrest of five spokespeople for Defend Our Juries (DOJ) – a group which has been campaigning for the British government to revoke its terror ban on Palestine Action – whose homes were raided under section 12 of the UK’s Terrorism Act.
Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty’s director of campaigns and communications, called the arrests “a terrifying example of the UK authorities’ willingness to use authoritarian practices to silence dissent”.
“The mass peaceful demonstrations they have organised over recent weeks are protected by international human rights law – and to think they run the risk of being imprisoned for up to 14 years is incredibly concerning,” Moscogiuri said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Palestine Action were designated a terror group by the UK government after protesters allegedly sprayed an RAF plane with red paint to protest Britain’s complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza.
Moscogiuri added that “expressing support for Palestine Action does not meet the threshold” for criminalisation under international standards and described the arrests as a violation of the UK’s human rights obligations.
