The film draws on real audio from the five-year-old’s call with emergency services as her family came under Israeli fire.
Published On 23 Jan 2026
A haunting docudrama about Israel’s killing of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab during its genocidal war on Gaza has been nominated for an Academy Award.
The Voice of Hind Rajab, by French-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, was shortlisted for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film on Thursday.
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The film tells the true story of Hind, who was killed by Israeli forces in 2024 as she and her family tried to evacuate Gaza City, blending recordings of real emergency calls with dramatic re-enactments.
It draws on harrowing audio from Hind Rajab’s call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, in which rescuers tried to reassure her as she lay trapped in a bullet-ridden car with the bodies of her aunt, uncle and three cousins, who had all been killed by Israeli fire.
The girl was then also killed, as were the two ambulance workers who went to the scene to try to rescue her.
A recording of the phone call was widely shared on social media after her death, causing renewed international outrage over Israel’s attacks on civilians.
At least 71,551 Palestinians have been killed and 171,372 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war began, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, many of them children.
UNICEF, the UN’s agency for children, said earlier this month that more than 100 Palestinian children had been killed in Gaza, even since the start of the ceasefire that began in October last year.
‘Make her voice echo’
Responding to the nomination, filmmaker Ben Hania said her motivation for the film had been to amplify Hind Rajab’s voice around the world, The Associated Press news agency reported.
“When I started making this movie, my main obsession or idea, because the voice of this little girl wasn’t heard when it was needed, was how to make her voice echo all over the world,” she said.
“So the