In a striking reversal of its earlier denials, the Israeli military acknowledged Wednesday that its forces opened fire on the vehicle carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab during a 2024 Gaza incident, announcing it has launched a formal criminal investigation into the killing that has sparked global condemnation. The young girl’s death, which has become a defining symbol of civilian harm in Gaza’s ongoing conflict, followed a desperate hours-long emergency call she placed to the Palestinian Red Crescent on January 29, 2024. Her bullet-riddled body was recovered from the vehicle days later in Gaza City, alongside the remains of six family members and two Red Crescent rescuers dispatched to rescue her.
Prior to Wednesday’s admission, the Israeli military had insisted its troops were not deployed in the area near the attack. In an official statement, the military said that after reviewing available evidence and identifying alleged coordination failures linked to the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance’s movement to the scene, the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division would lead the probe. According to the military’s updated findings, troops fired on the vehicle because it was approaching their position in violation of pre-issued advance notice given to local residents. The initial gunfire killed five of the vehicle’s passengers, leaving Hind and her cousin Layan Hamada alive. An evacuation by Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance was coordinated after the shooting, but the military confirmed allegations that a shell was fired at the ambulance once it arrived, killing the two paramedics on board.
Alongside the Hind Rajab investigation, the military announced it would also open a criminal probe into the 2025 killing of 15 Palestinian medics and humanitarian workers in southern Gaza, an incident that prompted widespread global outrage and accusations of potential war crimes from United Nations officials. The March 23, 2025 incident saw a team of first responders targeted by Israeli forces while searching for missing colleagues, with additional emergency and aid teams hit in consecutive strikes over several hours, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The dead included eight Red Crescent staff, six Gaza civil defence workers, and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, whose bodies were later found in a mass grave near the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The military said Wednesday that while six of the dead were identified as Hamas members, the circumstances of the firing raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct, justifying a formal investigation. It also confirmed that troops had crushed the victims’ vehicles and covered their bodies with metal mesh after the incident.
Israel’s foreign ministry framed the launch of the criminal investigations as proof the country is a “law-abiding democracy” committed to upholding the rule of law, noting that Israel conducts thorough probes into allegations of misconduct even amid its ongoing war against armed groups that seek its destruction. But the Brussels-based Hind Rajab Foundation, a legal organization that pursues accountability for alleged Israeli violations in Gaza, said it has no confidence in the Israeli military-led investigation. The group emphasized that even if the probe proceeds as announced, it should not be misinterpreted as a genuine step toward justice for the young girl and other victims.
Controversy also surrounds the military’s decision to decline criminal investigations into two other high-profile civilian casualty incidents that drew international scrutiny: the killings of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) employees and four Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff in Gaza. WCK founder Jose Andres called the decision wrong and deeply painful for the organization and the victims’ families, saying there is no excuse for the attack on his team. The U.S.-based charity described the ruling as inconsistent with the pursuit of full truth, called the decision deeply offensive, and repeated its demand for an independent international commission to investigate the killings.