The Voice of Hind Rajab

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

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As of 6 January 2026, over 73,600 people (72,437 Palestinians and 2,038+ Israelis) have been reported killed in the Gaza War according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Kaouther Ben Hania (“Four Daughters”) directs the masterful but very infuriating docudrama “The Voice of Hind Rajab.” The film is painstaking in its accuracy, compact and emotive. The film hits the eye like a cinematic bullet, a visual exclamation point.

On January 29, 2024, at the Red Crescent office (a Palestinian force made of volunteers) a call is received telling of Hind, a six year old girl trapped in a car with several dead relatives. Her mother and father are not present at the scene. The call was made by Hind’s uncle.

Omar (Motaz Malhees) excitedly springs into action to initiate a rescue along with the more bureaucratic Mahdi (Hlehel). The girl is increasingly terrified because the family has just been ambushed by bullets. There were over 400 bullets fired.

Hind (whose actual voice is recorded here) pleads for help but Mahdi insists that protocol must be followed. In order for the rescue to be approved, Red Cross must be called, which involves a trip across and around Gaza, twice over, not to mention another sequence of calls. Hind’s voice, small, pleading yet insistent at times is gut-wrenching.

The maternal Rana (Saja Kilani) gets on the line attempting to calm Hind: an adorable six-year-old who loves her mother and only wants the sea.

Omar becomes increasingly restless and frustrated, overwhelmed by the red tape. Understandably, he displays rage.

The closer the team is to saving the young girl the farther they actually become.

This film is not for the faint. It is more anguished than a thriller by Paul Greengrass. Hind in visage and voice is an arrow to the heart, no matter what side one happens to be on. This is unvarnished pain and as long as the war continues, we all have to exist within this condition.

“The Voice of Hind Rajab” is one of three films about Hind Rajab all completed around the same period of time last year.

Write Ian at ianfree11@yahoo.com