Headline

Six-year-old Gaza Girl Found Dead Days After Pleading For Help

Published

2 years ago

February 10, 2024

Six-year-old Hind Rajab pleaded to be rescued, after her family’s car came under fire in war-ravaged Gaza City, leaving her alone, frightened and injured, surrounded by the bodies of her dead relatives.

“I am so scared,” she had said in a desperate phone call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. “Call someone to come get me, please.”

But after more than two weeks of frantic efforts to reach her, Hind’s body was recovered on Saturday, alongside relatives and two PRCS rescue workers sent to find her.

The aid agency and the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip confirmed the grim discovery, and blamed Israeli forces.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas urged human rights groups and the international community to document what it called a “horrific crime”.

Hind’s highly publicised case comes as aid agencies warn that children and families are bearing the brunt of Israel’s war with Hamas.

Children are dying “at an alarming rate” in Gaza, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said.

Thousands have been killed and many more injured, with others at risk because of lack of food, water and medicine, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said.

Hind was last heard from after becoming trapped in the family’s vehicle with other relatives as they tried to flee Gaza City from an Israel advance.

“Hind and everyone else in the car is martyred,” the girl’s grandfather, Baha Hamada, told AFP on Saturday.

A number of family members found them when they went to Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa area looking for the car near a petrol station where it had last been spotted, he said.

“They were able to reach the area because Israeli forces withdrew early at dawn today,” added Hamada, one of the last people to speak to the girl on the telephone.

“She was killed by (Israeli) occupation forces with all those who were with her in the car outside the petrol station in Tel al-Hawa,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Palestine Red Crescent said that the Israeli military “deliberately targeted the ambulance upon its arrival at the scene” despite “prior coordination” allowing it through.

Earlier this week, family members had said the group found their way in the path of Israeli tanks and were fired on as they tried to flee.

‘She was terrified’

Hind initially survived the shooting and managed to talk to her family by telephone and make an emergency call, which the PRCS published on February 3.

“For over three hours, Hind desperately pleaded for rescue from the occupation (Israeli) tanks surrounding her, enduring gunfire and the horror of being alone, trapped among the bodies of her relatives shot by the Israeli forces in front of her eyes,” it added.

Nothing more was then heard from the young girl, even as the ambulance was sent to get her, the organisation said. Her grandfather said she was injured in the back, hand and foot.

“She was frightened, terrified,” he told AFP, sobbing.

“Hind is my first grandchild, she’s a piece of my heart.”

There was no comment from the Israeli army when contacted by AFP.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Gaza that the health ministry says has killed at least 27,947 people, mostly women and children.

UNICEF said on Wednesday that children in Gaza need “life-saving support” as the hostilities were having a “catastrophic impact”.

Half of the estimated 1.7 million people displaced in Gaza are children. “They do not have enough access to water, food, fuel and medicine,” the agency said on Wednesday.

“They homes have been destroyed; their families torn apart.”

AFP

Headline

Again, Russia Claims Another Village In Ukraine’s Region

Published

11 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Russian army Monday claimed to have captured another village in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, moving deeper into Ukrainian territory as peace efforts stall.

Russian forces are slowly but steadily gaining ground in costly battles for largely devastated areas in eastern and central Ukraine, normally with few inhabitants or intact buildings left.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had seized the settlement of Zaporizke in the region, which Russian troops recently advanced into for the first time in the three-and-a-half-year offensive.

Kyiv denies that Russian troops have gained a foothold in the Dnipropetrovsk region, an important industrial hub.

After another push by US President Donald Trump to broker a Ukraine-Russia summit, hopes for peace dimmed when Russia last week ruled out any immediate meeting between presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

The central region of Dnipropetrovsk has previously been largely spared from fighting that has ravaged swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, until Russia said its forces broke through in July.

Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea — that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.

Ukraine said Russia had launched over 100 drones Monday, killing a 37-year old civilian driver and wounding two people in the northeastern Sumy region.

Moscow said Kyiv had launched about two dozen drones targeting western Russia

Headline

US Comedian Reggie Carroll Shot Dead In Mississippi

Published

11 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

A United States comedian, Reginald “Reggie” Carroll, has been shot dead in Southaven, Mississippi.

The 52-year-old Carroll, widely known as the Knockout King of Comedy, was reportedly killed on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.

The Southaven Police Department confirmed the incident in a Facebook statement on Saturday.

“Southaven officers located one male victim suffering from gunshot wounds.

“The officers and medical personnel provided life saving techniques but the individual succumbed to his injuries,” the statement partly read.

The victim was later identified as Carroll, a Baltimore native.

Police said one suspect was arrested and charged with his murder.

“One male is in custody and has been charged with the murder of Reginald Carroll.

“Our thoughts are with the family of Mr. Carroll.

“Thank you to the community for their patience and understanding,” the department added.

The police further assured that there was no ongoing threat to residents, describing the case as “an isolated shooting.”

Carroll, who built his career in stand-up comedy, gained national recognition touring with Katt Williams and headlining his own showcase, Knockout Kings of Comedy.

He also featured in the 2000 edition of Showtime at the Apollo, appeared on the UPN sitcom The Parkers alongside Mo’Nique and Countess Vaughn, and starred in the 2022 television film Rent & Go.

In 2023, he produced the stand-up special Knockout Kings of Comedy.

The Southaven Police Department disclosed that an investigation into his death is ongoing.

Headline

US Defends New Social Media Vetting For Nigerian Visa Applicants

Published

11 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The U.S. Mission in Nigeria on Monday reaffirmed that the safety and security of the United States remain the cornerstone of its visa application and decision-making process.

The US said this following its directive last week that mandates Nigerians to disclose all social media usernames and handles used over the past five years as part of the visa application process.

US Mission said Nigerian visa applicants must provide a comprehensive list of their social media profiles on the DS-160 visa application form, and warned that omitting the information could lead to visa denials.

Reacting to the development, the Federal Government said US citizens intending to visit Nigeria will be subjected to the same measures.

“The best we can do is to carry out reciprocal action. Some people from the US might want to apply for a visa, and we will adopt the same measures,” spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said last Monday.

However, in a statement released Monday on X, the US Mission said prospective visa applicants undergo careful vetting to maintain a safe and welcoming environment in the US.

It said, “The safety and security of the United States is at the heart of every #USVisa application and decision process.

“That’s why prospective applicants undergo careful screening to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for all.”

The Mission added, “These measures help protect American citizens and communities while supporting secure and responsible travel.”