Israel’s military has confirmed for the first time that it opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was killed in Gaza in 2024 along with six relatives.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has now launched a criminal investigation into the deaths of Hind, her family and two paramedics, as well as into the killings of 15 Palestinians in a separate incident in March 2025.
Hind Rajab Call and Ambulance Attack
The IDF said Hind survived the initial shooting and took a telephone call during which she appealed for help. It said the call lasted for hours, while efforts to send an ambulance to the location were coordinated with the army.
When the ambulance was dispatched, it was hit by shelling, killing two paramedics. The IDF said Hind’s body, along with those of the other people killed in the car, was recovered days later.
In its statement, the IDF said the probe would be carried out by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division, citing alleged co-ordination failures relating to the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance.
The military said its review indicated that IDF troops fired at a vehicle that was travelling in the area “contrary to” advanced notice previously published to residents by the IDF spokesperson.
The IDF had initially told reporters that no troops were in the area at the time. That position was later questioned. It subsequently said it had carried out raids on “terror targets” with forces operating in neighbourhoods of Gaza City, including Tel al-Hawa, where Hind was located.
Wider Investigation After March 2025 Deaths
Alongside the case involving Hind, the IDF said it will investigate the deaths of 15 Palestinians in an incident during an emergency call-out in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah in southern Gaza on 23 March 2025.
It said an IDF unit fired at ambulances, a fire engine and a marked United Nations vehicle. The bodies were found a week later, buried in shallow graves near the crushed vehicles.
The IDF had first said its troops fired on “suspicious” vehicles driving in darkness with headlights and emergency lights switched off. It later said that explanation was wrong after material from a mobile phone belonging to one of the paramedics, Rifaat Radwan, suggested the convoy was using its emergency lights.
In its latest statement, the IDF said that after reviewing its findings, it had found enough for a “reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct” and decided to open an investigation.
Condemnation and Questions Over Accountability
Hind Rajab’s death drew international condemnation after a recording of her speaking to paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) was widely broadcast in 2024.
According to PRCS, the Red Crescent crew had obtained prior co-ordination to reach the scene. The organisation later confirmed that paramedics Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun were killed when the ambulance was hit by Israeli forces.
The story was later adapted into the Oscar-nominated film The Voice of Hind Rajab. The UN has cited her case in a commission of inquiry, accusing Israel of war crimes, which Israel rejects.
After the IDF announcement, the Hind Rajab Foundation, based in Brussels, said it had “no confidence” in the investigation, arguing that internal probes should not be treated as genuine accountability and that Israel’s mechanisms were “fundamentally flawed”.
The IDF said its announcement reflected its role in examining exceptional incidents that occur during combat, adding that it has conducted operations across multiple fronts for more than a thousand days.
The military also said it has not found grounds for criminal investigations in three other cases, including the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen workers in Deir al-Balah two years ago and two separate incidents in which four Médecins Sans Frontières staff were killed.
World Central Kitchen said it strongly condemned the IDF prosecutor’s account of the 2024 deaths and called for an independent investigation.
The Hind Rajab announcement is the first time the IDF has published a comprehensive report on alleged war crimes since the start of Israel’s Gaza war, triggered by Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.
More than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military campaign, including about 1,200 since a ceasefire was announced last October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, with the UN describing the figures as reliable.
Israel is facing mounting pressure to show it can investigate itself, amid concerns about possible action by the International Criminal Court. Israeli rights groups have said criminal investigations of Israeli forces rarely result in convictions, with Ziv Stahl of Yesh Din telling the BBC that almost no indictments are filed relative to the number of complaints.
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20 August 2026
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