Hind Rajab, Gaza medic deaths face Israeli criminal probes

The Israeli military said Wednesday it had ordered criminal investigations into the 2024 killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza and into the March 2025 killings of 15 Palestinians, including medics and humanitarian personnel, in southern Gaza.

Rajab's body was recovered from a bullet-riddled car in Gaza City days after she was last heard from during an hours-long phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent on January 29, 2024. She had made the emergency call after her family's car came under fire during an attempt to flee Gaza City amid an Israeli advance in northern Gaza.

Her body was later recovered with those of six relatives and two Red Crescent rescue workers sent to find her. Her death drew international outrage and calls for an independent investigation.

The Israeli military said its review indicated that troops had fired at a vehicle that was approaching them while travelling contrary to advance notice given to residents in the area. It said five passengers were killed and two survived at that stage: Hind Rajab and her cousin Layan Hamada.

The military said the movement of a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance had then been coordinated to evacuate the casualties. It said that, according to allegations raised, a shell was fired toward the ambulance when it arrived, killing the two paramedics inside. The military said alleged failures in coordination of the ambulance's movement led to the decision to open a criminal investigation by its Military Police Criminal Investigation Division.

The military also said it had ordered a criminal investigation into the deaths of 15 Palestinians after shots were fired at ambulances in southern Gaza in March 2025. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said at the time that first responders were killed by Israeli forces on March 23 and that other emergency and aid teams were hit one after another over several hours while searching for missing colleagues.

Those killed included eight Red Crescent staff, six members of the Gaza civil defence agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Their bodies were found buried near Rafah in what OCHA described as a mass grave.

The Israeli military said three shooting incidents occurred toward rescue vehicles, including a fire truck, ambulances and a UN vehicle, during what it described as an ambush by Israeli troops against Hamas operatives. It said 15 Palestinians were killed, including medical personnel and paramedics, and claimed six of those killed belonged to Hamas. It said troops then decided to crush the vehicles and cover the bodies with metal mesh.

The military said the firing in that incident raised reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct. It said criminal investigations would not be opened into three other reviewed incidents, including the killings of employees from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.