A 5-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, who was trapped in a car with her dead relatives after it came under Israeli fire in Gaza last month, has been found dead.
Our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has moved here.
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UK foreign secretary, EU foreign policy chief express concern over Israel's looming Rafah offensive
From CNN's Alex Stambaugh
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Saturday he is “deeply concerned” by the prospect of an Israeli military offensive in Rafah, while EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned it would amount to a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
“The priority must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire,” he wrote.
In a separate statement on X, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned that an Israeli offensive in Rafah would lead to an “unspeakable humanitarian catastrophe.”
“I echo the warning by several EU member states that an Israeli offensive on Rafah would lead to an unspeakable humanitarian catastrophe and grave tensions with Egypt. Resuming negotiations to free hostages and suspend hostilities is the only way to avert a bloodshed,” Borrell wrote.
Ahead of a looming ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed his military to prepare to evacuate an estimated 1.3 million people in the city, many of whom have already been displaced from other parts of the enclave.
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Here are Saturday's key headlines from the war in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East
From CNN staff
Ahead of a looming ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed his military to prepare to evacuate an estimated 1.3 million people in the city — many of whom were already displaced from other parts of the enclave and say they have nowhere to go.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry warned Saturday of “very serious repercussions of storming and targeting” Rafah, and the United Arab Emirates also issued a stern warning about Israel’s plan, which it said “threatens to cause the loss of more innocent life and exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.”
Here are other headlines you should know:
More from Rafah: Israeli military aircraft killed three Hamas members in the southern city Saturday, including two senior military operatives, the IDF claimed in a statement. Meanwhile, Palestinian police said at least five officers were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Rafah, and hospital officials said a strike in the city killed at least 12 civilians. It is unknown if Israel’s reports on the Hamas operatives’ deaths are linked to those coming from Palestinian police and hospital officials.
Humanitarian crisis: Israeli operations in northern Gaza left “total destruction,” according to residents in the Tal El Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, with some saying they have had to drink from toilets due to a lack of water.
More cross-border strikes: Israeli fighter jets struck three Hezbollah military command centers in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday. The military’s aircraft and artillery also struck additional Hezbollah locations across the Lebanese-Israeli border.
There was also diplomatic news in Lebanon: Iran’s foreign minister was in the country to meet with Hezbollah’s leader and discuss the powerful paramilitary group’s ongoing clashes with Israeli forces. Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called for a political resolution to the war in Gaza. He also said that Iran and the US have exchanged messages in recent weeks, as US clashes with Tehran’s proxy groups have threatened to expand the conflict in the Mideast. CNN has reached out to the US State Department for comment.
Israel protests: Eleven people were arrested as protesters marched through central Tel Aviv on Saturday night, according to Israeli police. The demonstrators packed the street as they called for the removal of Netanyahu, new elections and the release of hostages, videos provided by the protest organizers show.
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Saudi Arabia warns Israel of "very serious repercussions" for storming Rafah
From CNN's Mitchell McCluskey
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, take shelter in a tent camp in Rafah, Gaza, near the border with Egypt on February 8.
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry warned Saturday of “very serious repercussions of storming and targeting” the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Remember: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed Israel’s military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah, meaning an estimated 1.3 million people, many of whom were already displaced from other parts of the enclave and say they have nowhere to go.
Call for UN meeting: The Saudi ministry said targeting Rafah amounts to a violation of international law and “confirms the need for an urgent convening of the UN Security Council to prevent Israel from causing an imminent humanitarian disaster.”
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Israeli airstrikes kill at least 5 police officers in Rafah, Palestinian police say
From CNN’s Abel Alvarado
Palestinian police say at least five officers were killed Saturday in separate Israeli airstrikes that struck Rafah, the southern Gaza city where an Israeli ground offensive is looming.
Hospital reports civilian casualties: Another Israeli airstrike in Rafah hit a house and killed at least 12 civilians, according to information provided to CNN by the Abu Yousuf Al-Najjar hospital in Gaza. More people are believed to still be caught under the rubble.
It is unknown if Israel’s reports on the Hamas operatives’ deaths are linked to those coming from Palestinian police and hospital officials.
More on the situation in Rafah: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed his military to evacuate more than a million people living in Rafah — many of them already displaced by Israel’s offensive elsewhere in the enclave.
Netanyahu told Israel’s war cabinet that he wants a ground offensive in Rafah completed by the start of Ramadan on March 10, an Israeli official told CNN on Saturday.
Israel claims it uncovered a Hamas tunnel beneath UN agency's Gaza headquarters
From CNN’s Pierre Meilhan and Lauren Izso
Israel claimed Saturday it uncovered a major Hamas tunnel hiding weapons underneath a United Nations aid agency headquarters in northern Gaza.
The alleged finding took place as part of an Israeli military operation in the areas of Shati and Tel al-Hawa in northern Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The IDF claimed in a statement its troops reached a tunnel shaft located near a school operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). It did not say, however, when the discovery was made.
CNN has not independently verified Israel’s claims.
UNRWA head issued a quick response: The organization’s commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, said the agency did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza and that “Israeli authorities have not informed UNRWA officially about the alleged tunnel,” so they are unable to address the claim further.
The UN agency carries out inspections inside its premises every quarter, and the last one that took place in its Gaza premises was completed in September, according to Lazzarini.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for Lazzarini to resign after the latest claims of a tunnel beneath UNRWA headquarters Saturday. Lazzarini did not immediately respond.
Some background: Israel has longstanding issues with UNRWA, and the agencyfired several employees after Israel alleged that some of its staff were involved in Hamas’ October 7 attacks of last year.
The United States and at least 13 of its allies have pulled funding for the agency while investigators probe the claims. UN officials have raised alarm that defunding the organization imperils its ability to provide lifesaving aid in the enclave.
Gaza is home to a sprawling underground network of tunnels used by Hamas. The group has claimed there are more than 300 miles worth of the subterranean passages.
CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim contributed reporting to this post.
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Gaza residents describe "total destruction" and desperate conditions after Israeli operations in the north
From CNN's Eve Brennan, Abeer Salman and Khader Al Za'anoun
The Tal El Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City is pictured on February 10.
CNN
Israeli operations in northern Gaza left “total destruction,” according to residents in the Tal El Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, with some saying they have had to drink from toilets due to a lack of water.
Abdul Kareem Al-Qaseer has been displaced for two months from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza to the “industrial area” southeast of Gaza City, where some industrial factories are located, he told a local journalist working for CNN on Saturday.
Al-Qaseer said the Israel Defense Forces “hit the whole area, (resulting in) a large number of martyrs and wounded people” where he was sheltering.
“We were besieged. We tried to go back to the north, but we were besieged here,” he said. “Every day there were martyrs. Every day there was shelling. Every day there was hunger.”
Abdul Kareem Al-Qaseer speaks in Gaza City's Tal El Hawa neighborhood on February 10.
CNN
Olfat Hamdan said she had witnessed bodies lying in the streets of Gaza City, noting that “nobody was able to drag them or move them.”
Another Gaza City resident, Main Naim, also said he had seen dead bodies on the streets, describing some as having been there for 10 days.
Main Naim speaks in Gaza City's Tal El Hawa neighborhood on February 10.
CNN
“Nobody is able to move them,” he said. “They destroyed these areas, as you can see yourself,” he added, pointing to rubble in the video.
Fighting has continued sporadically in northern Gaza. Earlier this month, the IDF reported further operations in the northern Gaza Strip, where it said “IDF troops are continuing to enter Hamas military compounds and eliminate terrorists.”
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Israel claims it killed 2 senior Hamas military members in Rafah
From CNN’s Pierre Meilhan and Lauren Izso
Israeli military aircraft killed three Hamas members in Rafah on Saturday, including two senior military operatives, the Israel Defense Forces claimed in a statement.
The military said the operatives killed included Ahmed Eliakubi, who the Israeli military claims was “responsible for the security provisions for senior Hamas leaders and served as a senior commander in the Rafah district.”
The statement said the attack also killed a senior military member identified by the IDF as Iman Rantisi, and a third militant who was not identified.
CNN cannot independently verify the claims, due to the difficulty of reporting from the war zone.
Remember: Rafah is a southern Gaza city packed with Palestinians who have been displaced from other parts of the enclave, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now directed his military to plan for the evacuation of civilians before a coming ground offensive.
Rafah is the last major population center in Gaza not occupied by Israeli forces, and Palestinians living there have warned they have no place to go.
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Israeli fighter jets strike 3 Hezbollah military command centers in southern Lebanon, IDF says
From CNN’s Pierre Meilhan and Lauren Izso
Israeli fighter jets struck three Hezbollah military command centers in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday.
Aside from the the command centers, located in the area of Ayta ash Shab and the coastal town of Naqoura, the aircraft struck additional Hezbollah locations in the areas of Khiam, Marwahin and Boustane, the IDF said in a statement.
Israeli artillery, meanwhile, struck three launching sites in southern Lebanon after they were identified as locations targeting the town of Shlomi in northern Israel, according to the IDF.
Remember: Hezbollah is a powerful paramilitary group backed by Iran, which has engaged in increased cross-border skirmishes with Israel since the start of the latest war in Gaza.
More news from this region: The news of fresh Israeli strikes Saturday came as Lebanese state-run media reported a drone strike on a car about 40 miles from the border. Reuters reports that the drone targeted a Palestinian figure linked to Hamas, but that they survived the attack, according to security sources.
Netanyahu’s office said Friday that he had directed the military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah, where there are believed to be more than 1.3 million people — many of them already displaced by Israel’s offensive elsewhere in the enclave.
Here’s what you need to about this and other developments in the Israel-Hamas war:
Where will the civilians go? Rafah is the last major population center in Gaza not occupied by the Israel Defense Forces, and it has rapidly become home to a huge population of displaced Palestinians. Satellite images showed this week how a tent city has swelled in size in just a few weeks. CNN has also previously reported on Palestinian civilians who followed evacuation orders being killed by Israeli strikes, underscoring the reality that evacuation zones and warning alerts from the Israeli military haven’t guaranteed safety for civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have no safe place to escape Israeli bombs.
International alarm grows: Several non-governmental organizations have warned about the consequences of Israeli operations in Rafah. The Norwegian Refugee Council said earlier this week that the city, which borders Egypt, could soon turn “into a zone of bloodshed and destruction that people won’t be able to escape.” Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestinian National Initiative said any attack on Rafah would lead to “massacres,” and also a “wide ethnic cleansing of the population of Gaza, which is part of genocide.”
5-year-old Palestinian girl found dead: Hind Rajab, who was trapped in a car with her dead relatives after it came under Israeli fire in Gaza last month, has been found dead. Two men dispatched to rescue her have also been confirmed dead. Hind made a frantic call for help after her family was killed. Her mother told CNN the little girl had dreamed of being a doctor.
Hospital reportedly under fire: At least one person was killed and others were injured by Israeli gunfire at Nasser medical complex in southern Khan Younis early Saturday, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement. The ministry said Israel was firing on the hospital, where thousands are sheltering. CNN can’t independently confirm the allegations. Medical officials at various hospitals in the enclave have for weeks reported siege-like conditions, with dwindling supplies and Israeli forces on all sides.
And here are some of the latest developments from elsewhere in the Mideast:
More US strikes on Houthi weapons: The US launched more strikes on a series of missiles belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen on Saturday, according to US Central Command, which said the weapons were “prepared to launch at ships in the Red Sea” and “presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.” The Houthis’ attacks on global shipping and the growing US response are among the key flashpoints in the wider conflicts playing out during the Israel-Hamas war.
Lebanon drone strike: A drone strike targeted a car about 40 miles from the southernmost Lebanese-Israeli border, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency said Saturday. The report called it an “enemy drone,” a likely reference to it being Israeli. The strike resulted in injuries, according to NNA, with the outlet not reporting any deaths at the time. Reuters cited four security sources saying a Palestinian figure linked to Hamas survived the attack. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.
Iranian and Hezbollah officials meet: The reported drone strike came as Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah for a discussion on “the latest political and security developments in the region, especially in the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon, and the rest of the fronts of the resistance axis,” according to NNA. Hezbollah has been involved in tit-for-tat exchanges with Israel since the October 7 attacks, while other Iran backed allies of Hamas have been staging attacks.
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Iranian foreign minister calls for political solution to end the war in Gaza
From CNN's Artemis Moshtaghian and Lauren Kent
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaks during a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 10.
Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Saturday called for a political solution to end the war in Gaza and said that Tehran is in diplomatic talks with Riyadh to work on the issue.
“The end of the war means the end of Netanyahu and his extreme cabinet,” the Iranian foreign minister added, also warning Israel against further escalation in Lebanon, saying it cannot fight effectively on two fronts.
Remember: Conflict involving Western powers and Iranian proxies, like the powerful paramilitary group Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, is central to concerns the Israel-Hamas war could spread into a wider Mideast conflict.
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US conducts more strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen
From CNN’s Andrew Millman
The US conducted more strikes against targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen Friday, according to US Central Command, which said the strikes destroyed weapons that posed a threat to Navy and commercial ships.
The targets included two mobile unmanned surface vessels, four mobile anti-ship cruise missiles and one mobile land attack cruise missile, all of which were “prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” according to the CENTCOM statement.
The US said the targets “presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.”
Some context: The US has been trying to degrade the Iran-backed militant group’s ability to threaten shipping in the region.
The Houthi rebels say their strikes on ships in the Red Sea are in response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. There are fears that the attacks could help escalate Israel’s war against Hamas into a wider regional conflict.
Seeking to avoid a regional war with Tehran, the US has not targeted Iran directly, instead going after some of its most powerful proxies in the region.
Iran funds, arms and supplies these groups to different degrees, but its leadership does not control them directly.
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Hamas warns against attacks in Rafah "with the aim of displacing our Palestinian people"
From CNN's Abeer Salman in Jerusalem, Lauren Kent in London and Ibrahim Hazboun
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza, on February 9.
Fatima Shbair/AP
Hamas on Saturday warned against attacks on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, calling on the UN and other intergovernmental organizations to prevent operations that it claims Israel is conducting “with the aim of displacing our Palestinian people.”
According to the United Nations figures, more than 1.3 million people are believed to be in Rafah, the majority displaced from other parts of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah.
In its statement, Hamas urged the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the UN Security Council “to take urgent and serious action” to prevent attacks in Rafah.
Hamas also called out the US government for continuing to provide Israel with weapons, even as American authorities have raised concerns about a potential expansion of Israeli military operations into Gaza’s southernmost city.
A spokesperson for the United States State Department said Thursday that the U.S. would not support an Israeli military operation in Rafah “without serious planning.”
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Israeli airstrikes and shelling targeting Rafah kill at least 25, reports say
From Ibrahim Hazboun and Abeer Salman in Jerusalem and Lauren Iszo in Tel Aviv
Palestinians mourn relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment in Rafah, Gaza, on February 10.
Fatima Shbair/AP
Israeli airstrikes and shelling targeting the southern Gazan city of Rafah resulted in multiple deaths and injuries, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa on Saturday.
According to medical officials cited by Wafa, 25 people, mainly women and children, were killed as a result of airstrikes and artillery shelling on homes in central and northern Rafah.
When asked by CNN for further details about reported strikes in Rafah, an IDF spokesperson said, “In response to Hamas’ barbaric attacks, the IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities.
“In stark contrast to Hamas’ intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm,” the spokesperson added.
There is mounting international alarm over Rafah, home to more than one million people, after Israel said it would soon enter the city as part of its ground campaign against Hamas.
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Unimaginable devastation seen inside Khan Younis, the southern Gaza city once a safe haven for the displaced
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová in Khan Younis
Palestinians with a donkey cart outside destroyed residential buildings in Khan Younis, Gaza, on February 3.
Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Scattered around a huge crater are the remnants of a life that is gone. Random pieces of clothing and a red makeup bag lie in the mud. Nearby, an English language textbook, bits of broken furniture and a pillow with floral embroidery are jumbled together in one large pile.
The crater sits right in the middle of a residential neighborhood in central Khan Younis, the besieged city in southern Gaza that is the current epicenter of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The city is the hometown of Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), a major Hamas stronghold. It’s also an area to which the Israeli military urged large numbers of civilians to flee in the early days of the war.
Looking around, it’s clear that the IDF went into Khan Younis with full force.
According to the IDF, the crater is all that is left of a building similar to the others in the area. The military said it was flattened because it sat on top of an entrance to a vast underground tunnel complex.
The IDF says the complex has been used by Sinwar and other Hamas officials to hide since the war began and some of the hostages kidnapped from Israel by Hamas on October 7 were held there.
JUST IN: Netanyahu says IDF operation in Rafah must be completed by the start of Ramadan on March 10
From CNN Lauren Izso and Eve Brennan, with previous reporting from Mick Krever
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 28, 2023.
Abir Sultan/Pool/AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the War Cabinet on Thursday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation in Rafah must be complete by the start of Ramadan on March 10, an Israeli official told CNN on Saturday.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Friday that the Israeli prime minister had directed the military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah.
Netanyahu also said on Thursday that the IDF would “soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion.”
More than 1.3 million people are believed to be in Rafah, the majority displaced from other parts of Gaza, according to the United Nations.
On Friday, Rafah residents and people who had been displaced from elsewhere in Gaza told CNN they were afraid and have nowhere else to go if Israel enters the city in the south of the Gaza strip close to the Egyptian border.
The United Nations is “extremely worried” about the fate of civilians in the city, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Friday, while UN Humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths warned: “There’s nowhere left to go in Gaza.”
He added: “Civilians must be protected and their essential needs, including shelter, food and health, must be met.”
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Hamas calls on UN Security council to "convene immediately" over Israeli threats to invade Rafah
From Ibrahim Hazboun in Jerusalem with previous reporting from Kareem El Damanhoury and Amir Tal
The Hamas-run government media office on Saturday called on the UN Security Council to “convene immediately” following threats from Israel over a possible invasion into Rafah, a city in the south of the Gaza strip close to the Egyptian border.
More than 1.3 million people are believed to be in Rafah, the majority displaced from other parts of Gaza, according to the United Nations. The city is the last major population center in Gaza not occupied by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Netanyahu on Thursday said that IDF would “soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion,” and the next day directed the military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from the city alongside the defeat of Hamas, his office said in a statement. He added it was not possible to both eliminate Hamas and leave “four Hamas battalions in Rafah.”
‘Ethnic cleansing’: Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestinian National Initiative on Saturday said any attack on Rafah would “lead not only to massacres but also to a wide ethnic cleansing of the population of Gaza, which is part of genocide.”
Human Rights Watch has warned that the repercussions of forcibly evacuating displaced Palestinians in Rafah would have “catastrophic consequences,” adding the Israeli military has a responsibility to protect civilians whether they evacuate or not.
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Iranian foreign minister meets Hezbollah chief Nasrallah
From CNN's Charbel Mallo, Duarte Mendonca and Mostafa Salem
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah for a discussion on ”the latest political and security developments in the region, especially in the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon, and the rest of the fronts of the resistance axis,” according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA).
Amir-Abdollahian is in Lebanon for meeting with officials.
The leader of Hezbollah and the Iranian FM last met in November last year where they discussed “the existing possibilities regarding the course of events and efforts to stop Israeli aggression on Gaza.”
Some background: Since Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel and the Israeli offensive in Gaza that followed, the militant group Hezbollah has engaged in frequent confrontations with Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched a series of attacks on commercial ships and Western military vessels in the Red Sea, a major artery for international trade. And Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria have launched dozens of attacks aimed at US military positions in those countries, leading to a number of close calls.
The US and other international powers have hit back with strikes on the Houthis and other groups allied with Iran.
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At least 1 dead at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital as IDF continues operations in Khan Younis
From CNN's Kareem El Damanhoury
At least one person was killed and others were injured by Israeli gunfire at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis early Saturday, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement.
CNN cannot independently verify the allegations and has reached out to the Israeli military for comment. The Israel Defenses Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that its troops “continue to conduct targeted raids on terrorist targets” in western Khan Younis.
A frontline hospital: Earlier on Friday, a medical doctor inside the hospital said in a video on his Instagram account that continuous gunfire by the Israeli military was preventing medical staff from moving from one hospital building to another.
In a statement on Thursday, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza warned of a “health and humanitarian crisis” as a result of what it described as an Israeli “siege and targeting,” adding that there are 300 medical staff, 450 injured people and 10,000 displaced people in the Nasser Medical Complex.
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5-year-old Palestinian girl found dead after being trapped in car under Israeli fire
From CNN’s Abeer Salman in Jerusalem and Khader Al Za’anoun in Gaza
“The child (Hind Rajab) and everyone in the car were found killed by the Israeli Army near the Fares petrol station in the Tal Al-Hawa area, southwest of Gaza City,” said Khader Al Za’anoun, a Palestinian journalist working for CNN who spoke to the child’s grandfather.
On January 29, Hind had been traveling in a car with her uncle, his wife and their four children, fleeing fighting in northern Gaza, when they came under Israeli fire, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
Hind’s cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamadeh, made a desperate call for help to emergency services that was recorded by the PRCS and shared on social media. Audio of gunshots heard during the call revealed that Hamadeh was killed while making the call.
Two PRCS ambulance staff dispatched to find her also died, the organization said.
Soon after the incident, CNN gave the Israeli military details about the incident, including coordinates provided by the Palestine Red Crescent Society. In response, the Israel Defense Forces said it was “unfamiliar with the incident described.”
When contacted again by CNN, the IDF said they were “still looking into it.”
Clarification: The headline on this story has been updated to better characterize the circumstances of Hind Rajab’s death.
