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Kaouther Ben Hania, the director of last year’s Oscar-nominated docudrama “The Voice of Hind Rajab” — about the killing of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza by Israeli forces — has rejected the news that Israel is
launching an investigation into Rajab’s death, describing it as “a smokescreen.”
On Wednesday, the Israeli military admitted that its troops had opened fire on the car carrying Rajab and six members of her family in January 2024. Rajab later died following a three-hour call with the Palestinian Red Cross in which she pleaded for help. An ambulance sent to rescue her was also attacked by the Israeli military, killing two medics.
The Israeli Defense Forces repeatedly claimed that its troops had not been in the area at the time of the killings. But investigations by media outlets found evidence that nearby Israeli tanks were responsible, with the death of Rajab becoming one of the most high-profile incidents in the early months of the war in Gaza, prompting outrage around the world.
“Following review of the findings and due to alleged failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance, it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident by military police criminal investigation division,” the Israeli military said on Wednesday, more than two years after the killing.
In a statement on her Instagram page, Ben Hania — who used the recording of Rajab’s call to the Red Cross in her film, which would go on to win numerous honors including the grand jury prize in Venice and nominations from both the BAFTAs and Oscars — pushed back against the investigation.
“This announcement is a smokescreen. For more than two years, the evidence has been there: independent investigations, satellite imagery, ballistic analysis. And there was the most devastating evidence of all: Hind’s own voice, describing the Israeli tanks circling around her. What more did we need?” she wrote. “Did we really have to wait for the accused to decide to investigate itself (yes, itself!) before these facts could finally be taken seriously?”
Ben Hania added: “Meanwhile, the Israeli military continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza, while the occupation intensifies in the West Bank. What is needed now is not a public relations operation. What is needed is justice (delivered by an independent authority) for Hind and for all the victims of the genocide in Gaza.”
