The real-life story behind The Voice of Hind Rajab

There is a moment in Kaouther Ben Hania's new film The Voice of Hind Rajab, where Red Crescent (the equivalent of the Red Cross) workers are hit with a gut-churning realisation: they will not be able to save Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in a car with the corpses of her family while Israeli forces lurk outside.

As the charity workers sit silently, heads in hands, a mobile phone is held up showing a mirror image of the action behind it. The footage on the phone is a recording of the real-life Red Crescent workers who toiled for hours trying to get paramedics to Hind.

It's just one of the ways Ben Hania reminds her audience that what happened to the little girl on the movie screen happened in real life.

The Voice of Hind Rajab premiered in the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where it broke the record for longest standing ovation, and picked up the Grand Jury Prize. It's currently in the running for Best International Feature Film at next week's 98th Academy Awards.

After initially struggling to find distribution in the US, The Voice of Hind Rajab has hit Australian cinemas. Here's what you need to know.

Who was Hind Rajab?

On January 29, 2024, Hind and six of her family members loaded into a black vehicle to evacuate the Gazan suburb of Tel al-Hawa. The car was shot at by Israeli forces. Hind's aunt, uncle and three of her cousins were killed.

A fourth cousin, Layan Hamadeh, was trapped with Hind in the car beside a petrol station. Layan called the Palestinian Red Crescent Society for assistance. The Red Crescent released the audio files of their conversation, which detail the 15-year-old saying their car was being shot at, and tanks were approaching.

In another recording, Layan is heard yelling over the sound of gunfire. When the Red Crescent made contact again, Hind picked up their call recounting that she was now the only survivor in the car.

After spending hours on the phone with Hind, while also negotiating with Israeli forces, the Red Crescent was able to send an ambulance to her location. As the ambulance approached, Red Crescent workers lost connection with both Hind and their medics.

Twelve days later, the bodies of Hind, her six family members and two medics were found. Al Jazeera footage of the scene appeared to show the burnt-out ambulance only steps away from the family's car, a damaged black Kia Picanto riddled with bullet holes.

The deaths of Hind, her family and the paramedics ignited a fierce reaction worldwide.

In April 2024, pro-Palestine student protesters staged an occupation of Columbia University's Hamilton Hall, renaming it Hind's Hall in honour of the dead six-year-old. 

US rapper Macklemore released Hind's Hall, a track supporting the college protesters and admonishing political leaders for not acting to protect innocents.

In September 2025, an independent United Nations report concluded Israel has committed genocidal acts against Palestinians. The 72-page report cited the killing of Hind and her family, stating Israeli forces "had clear knowledge of the presence of Palestinian civilians along the evacuation routes and within the safe areas but nevertheless they shot at and killed civilians".

What is The Voice of Hind Rajab about?

While Hind's voice and static images of the little girl are frequent features in The Voice of Hind Rajab, Ben Hania tells her story through the eyes of the Red Crescent workers — Rana Hassan Faqih, Omar A Alqam, Mahdi M Aljamal and Nisreen Jeries Qawas.

From the outset, the director sought the blessing of Hind's mother, Wesam Hamada, to tell her story, spending hours talking to her about her child's "personality, her dreams, the way she laughed".

The Red Crescent Society supplied Ben Hania with the full recordings — 70 minutes in total — of their employee's calls with Hind and her cousin.

"Seventy minutes of waiting, of fear, of trying to hold on. It was one of the most difficult things I've ever listened to," Ben Hania said.

The Voice of Hind Rajab curls around those recordings; around the agony of being a Red Crescent worker, starting in the organisation's offices where all the action takes place, with Omar (Motaz Malhees) accepting the first call out of the soon-to-be destroyed car.

As Hind's situation intensifies, Omar's colleagues Rana (Saja Kilani) and Nisreen (Clara Khoury) fold into the action in an attempt to elicit trust from the terrified six-year-old. All the while, their supervisor Madhi (Amer Hlehel) anxiously negotiates with the Gaza Health Ministry and the Israeli military to achieve safe passage for their rescuers.

Every few minutes of action is punctuated by the real audio recordings signified by an on-screen declaration: Hind begging Rana to save her, asking where her saviours are, her fears that the sun is starting to set, her confession that she's afraid of the dark.

The film shifts the mood to one of trepidatious optimism when an ambulance is allowed "safe passage" to collect Hind. But the elation is short-lived as the team loses communication with the ambulance and Hind.

Is The Voice of Hind Rajab a true story?

Ben Hania's filmography features successes in both documentary and narrative film with The Voice of Hind Rajab occupying a precarious space between both.

"The Voice of Hind Rajab is, yes, a dramatised film. It is scripted, constructed and performed," Ben Hania says.

"But it's also anchored in an undeniable, painful truth and more than that, it is built around a real voice, that of Hind herself, captured in the final moments of her life."

For Dr Mo Mustafa, a Palestinian Australian emergency physician trainee and Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF) Australia Ambassador who has served on two medical missions to Gaza, watching The Voice of Hind Rajab was "deeply confronting".

"I have treated children whose injuries and fear mirror what the film portrays," Dr Mustafa tells ABC News.

"What struck me most is that Hind's story is not isolated. Her story represents thousands of children whose lives have been lost — each one with a name, a family, a personality and a future that will never unfold."

The Red Crescent worker's shell-shocked reactions in The Voice of Hind Rajab, when they realise hope is lost not just for the little girl but for the paramedics sent to rescue her, are all too familiar for Dr Mo.

"I was there when the 15 paramedics were killed. I was there when their bodies were found. Moments like that change you," he says.

"You begin to understand not only the scale of devastation, but what the Red Crescent means in Gaza. These are not distant institutions — they are neighbours, relatives, friends. They are the people who arrive first when a home is hit. They are the ones families look to in their most desperate moments.

"And yet, even in that grief, colleagues continued working. They continued responding. They continued showing up for the next call."

Dr Mo says while storytelling can't replace the effect of humanitarian work, it can help protect the dignity of the victims of the Israel-Gaza war.

"There are hundreds — even thousands — of children who have been killed or injured whose names we will never know. We don't hear their voices. We don't see their faces. Their stories disappear into statistics," Dr Mo says.

Dr Mo hopes Australians who see The Voice of Hind Rajab are "empowered" to "ensure that stories like Hind's move us toward compassion and action" whether that be through "informed discussion, supporting humanitarian medical work or advocating for the protection of children".

"I hope [through The Voice of Hind Rajab] Australians see that behind every crisis headline are children who deserve our protection, healthcare and dignity," he says.

The Voice of Hind Rajab is in cinemas now.