Israeli tank fired at Hind Rajab family car from metres away: Investigation

An Israeli tank fired from a close distance at the family car of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, and a tank shell directly hit the ambulance that was dispatched to help, according to an investigation.

The killing of the child and her family in Gaza City in late January prompted international condemnation.

Rajab, who survived the initial shooting, had begged for help as she bled out among the bodies of her dead relatives while on the phone with paramedics and her mother for three hours.

In a documentary on civilian killings in the war on Gaza, Al Jazeera TV’s Fault Lines provided a detailed reconstruction of the incident, compiled in collaboration with nonprofit investigative groups, Forensic Architecture and Earshot.

The investigation revealed the Israeli tank was likely just 13 to 23 metres (42 to 75 feet) away when it opened fire on Rajab and her relatives in their car.

Through interviews with family members, Palestinian Civil Defence workers and medical responders, the documentary provides the most comprehensive account on video of the incident to date.

It also reconstructs for the first time the likely position of the Israeli tank when it fired on the car, as well as the likely trajectory of the tank shell that struck the ambulance with a direct hit when it came to rescue Rajab.

The Israeli military refused to answer Al Jazeera’s questions on the details of the incident. However, the new evidence further disproves previous claims by the Israeli military that its forces were not present in the area.