Israel’s military has opened its first criminal investigations into two of the most widely condemned incidents of the Gaza war, the 2024 killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab and her family, and the 2025 killing of 15 Palestinian paramedics, while confirming for the first time that its troops fired on Rajab’s vehicle.
What the Military Disclosed
In findings published by its General Staff Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, an internal body that reviews exceptional incidents during military operations, the Israeli military said troops fired on a car carrying the Hamada family as it approached them in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in January 2024, killing five of the vehicle’s occupants. Rajab and her 15-year-old cousin, Layan Hamada, survived the initial shooting. “IDF troops fired at a vehicle that was approaching them while travelling contrary to the advance notice that had been published in an announcement by the IDF Spokesperson to residents of the area,” the military said in its findings.
According to the military’s account, Layan called the Palestinian Red Crescent Society after the shooting to report that a tank was approaching and that her relatives had been killed. Gunshots were then heard and her screaming stopped, according to a recording of the call. The Red Crescent dispatched an ambulance to reach the girls; the military said its review found alleged failures in coordinating the ambulance’s movement, and that a shell was fired toward the vehicle after it arrived, killing the two paramedics inside. Rajab and her relatives were found dead in the car 12 days after the initial shooting.
A Second Case Involving Paramedics
The second investigation concerns the killing of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers in Rafah in March 2025, an incident that also drew significant international attention after their bodies were found in a mass grave, having reportedly been struck by Israeli fire while responding to an earlier strike. The military said it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct during the war and had made determinations on five of them, opening criminal investigations into two while declining to pursue investigations into three separate attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.
World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres criticised the decision not to investigate the strike on his organisation’s workers, calling it “wrong and painful” in a post on social media. The military’s statement did not address several other high-profile incidents it has previously said it would examine, including a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza in August 2025 that killed five journalists, among them Associated Press freelance photographer Mariam Dagga.
Family and Rights Groups Skeptical
Rajab’s grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, told the Associated Press by phone that the Israeli investigation was not enough. “An international investigation is required to uncover the truth and hold all those responsible accountable,” she said. “We call for justice, not only for Hind, but for all Gaza children.”
The Hind Rajab Foundation, an advocacy group established in the girl’s memory that has filed complaints against Israeli officials with the International Criminal Court, said in a statement that Israeli military investigations “overwhelmingly end without meaningful examination, prosecution, or punishment,” adding that in the small number of cases that have resulted in convictions, penalties have often been “exceptionally lenient or administrative in nature.” The Israeli military has not publicly responded to that characterisation.
Why It Matters
The announcement marks the first time Israel’s own military has opened formal criminal proceedings tied to specific, named civilian deaths during the Gaza war, nearly three years after the conflict began. Whether the investigations lead to charges, and how long they take, remains to be seen. Israeli strikes have continued in Gaza despite a fragile ceasefire, and rights advocates say the credibility of any outcome will depend heavily on the transparency of the process and whether findings are made public.
