International Glance
The anguished final pleas of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in a car under Israeli fire are retold in “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a searing new film that received a rapturous premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday.
“Hind’s story carries the weight of an entire people,” one of the actors, Saja Kilani, told reporters in a statement she read out on behalf of the whole cast and crew ahead of the screening.
The true-life drama focuses on telephone operators from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society who tried for hours to reassure the trapped Hind Rajab as she begged to be rescued from the car, where her aunt, uncle and three cousins already lay dead.
I’m so scared, please come,” the little girl says, with the original recordings of her increasingly desperate calls to the dispatchers used to powerful effect throughout the film.
The real question is, how have we let a child beg for life? No one can live in peace while even one child is forced to plead for survival. ... Let Hind Rajab’s voice echo around the world,” Kilani said.
IDF reservists were answering the latest call-up to invade Gaza City, but likely in smaller numbers and slower than in the past recruitments, an IDF briefing appeared to clarify on Wednesday.
Israeli forces carried out a rare daytime raid on Tuesday in the heart of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded, according to local medics, as people throwing stones scattered after gunfire and tear gas.
Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans has said his country is sending 300 troops and Patriot air defence missile systems to Poland to “defend NATO territory, protect supply to Ukraine, and deter Russian aggression”.
Australia lashes Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu after he said the country’s prime minister was weak, with a top minister saying strength is more than “how many people you can blow up.”
