A film based on the death of a five-year-old girl during Israel’s war in Gaza is set to hit UK cinemas this month.
The January 2024 killing of Hind Rajab shocked the world after her desperate telephone calls with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) emergency services were recorded in real time and made public.
Hind and six of her relatives (the Hamada family) had been attempting to escape the fighting in Gaza City when their car came under attack.
The Voice Of Hind Rajab, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, fuses Hind’s actual voice with a dramatised performance to tell the story of her desperate cries for help.
A picture of Hind Rajab is held on the red carpet ahead of the screening of The Voice Of Hind Rajab at Venice’s film festival. Pic: Reuters
Set inside the charity’s West Bank call centre, the film reconstructs the resolute efforts of Red Crescent workers during a hopeless negotiation with the Israelis over a safe route for the rescue.
Over 90 minutes, an avoidable tragedy is played out from the perspective of the call handlers who listen, refuse to abandon hope, and sometimes fight over the rules of sending an ambulance out to a deadly mission.
The film invites an audience that already knows how the story ends to feel the long and frustrating wait, and to experience the complex Israeli protocols Palestinians have to live by.
What unfolds is an uncomfortable watch as day turns to evening and the child’s voice pleads: “Please don’t leave me, I’m afraid of the dark.”
Director Kaouther Ben Hania (centre), and actors Amer Hlehel, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees and Saja Kilan. Pic: Reuters
‘The magical power of cinema’
Director Kaouther Ben Hania says the film was not about investigating the death. Speaking to Sky News, she said she wanted to let audiences feel what life is like for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.
“This story was investigated by The Washington Post and Sky News, so in terms of explaining what happened, this was done,” she said.
“I asked myself what can cinema bring to the table? Cinema has a magical power of empathy – you experience ‘otherness’, you live the life of others. And I thought, we are done explaining, now let’s feel.
“What does it mean to be Palestinian, working in the Red Crescent? Your mission is to save lives, and you have this system making your life impossible.”
PRCS staff kept Hind on the line for hours through multiple calls before an ambulance could finally be dispatched.
By 6pm, the ambulance crew were close to the family car, telling dispatchers they had their emergency lights on but no siren.
“Oh, there she is,” a paramedic said, just before communication ended abruptly with the sound of heavy gunfire. Both paramedics were killed, and all nine bodies were found 12 days later.
Wreckage of an ambulance used by two workers who were killed while they had gone to save Hind. Pic: Reuters
‘I felt my heart going to explode’
Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees plays Omar, the first call handler to take Hind’s call.
He told Sky News how repeatedly hearing the child’s voice during the making of the film took its toll on the cast and crew.
“Thinking about it and hearing her voice begging to be rescued, I was feeling so powerless,” he said. “There were some moments I felt I had panic attacks, and during one of the scenes I felt my heart is going to explode.”
Awards buzz and big name backing
The film is a contender at this year’s Oscars and received a record 23-minute standing ovation at the 2025 Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize.
Hollywood elites Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix signed on as executive producers, which Malhees said felt like “a great honour.”
Motaz Malhees, one of the lead actors in The Voice Of Hind Rajab. Pic: Reuters
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was not in the area on the day of Hind’s death, but it made its presence there public, perhaps mistakenly.
Twelve days after the attack, on the same day the car and ambulance were found, the IDF published a press release about its activities in Gaza, saying “over the last two weeks” it had “conducted raids on terror targets” with forces operating in Shati and Tel al Hawa neighbourhoods in Gaza.
Tel al Hawa is the same neighbourhood where Hind Rajab, the Hamada family, and the paramedics were killed. The press release was later deleted from the IDF website and a Sky News investigation found a number of Israeli tanks were indeed present and likely to have fired at civilians.
The Voice Of Hind Rajab is set for UK and Irish theatrical release on 16 January.
