Israel opens criminal probes into killings of Hind Rajab and Palestinian medics
Israel Launches Criminal Probes into Deaths of Hind Rajab and Gaza Paramedics
Poinews.com – On Wednesday, the Israeli military announced it would initiate criminal investigations into two widely publicized incidents from the Gaza war: the death of five-year-old Hind Rajab along with members of her family, and the killing of 15 Palestinian paramedics. The decision followed the completion of internal reviews covering 150 incidents related to the conduct of Israeli forces operating in Gaza, with formal determinations issued in five of those cases.
The Hind Rajab Case
In February 2024, Rajab was inside a vehicle with six relatives attempting to escape Gaza City when Israeli soldiers opened fire on the car. Her 15-year-old cousin, Layan Hamada, phoned the Palestinian Red Crescent to report that a tank was closing in and that her family had been shot. Within seconds, additional gunfire erupted before Layan's cries cut off abruptly, as captured on a recording later made public by the Red Crescent.
Hind survived the initial attack and stayed in communication with the Red Crescent while the organization sought clearance from the Israeli military to reach her location. Twelve days after the shooting, her body, those of her relatives, and the remains of two medics dispatched to rescue her were discovered.
The Rafah Paramedic Killings
In May 2025, 15 paramedics were shot dead in Rafah after Israeli troops fired on ambulances and other emergency vehicles that were responding to wounded civilians and searching for a missing ambulance, according to phone-recorded footage and testimony from the sole survivor. The victims' bodies and the wrecked vehicles were subsequently interred in a mass grave. UN personnel and rescue workers exhumed the remains roughly a week later.
The military's initial account claimed the vehicles had been "advancing suspiciously" with no headlights or emergency signals activated. That explanation was later walked back after video evidence revealed the emergency vehicles operating with flashing lights and clearly visible Red Crescent and Civil Defence markings.
Incidents Left Outside the Probes
The Wednesday statement made no mention of several other prominent killings the military had earlier committed to examining, including Israeli strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza in August 2025 that took the lives of five journalists. Separately, the military confirmed it would not open criminal investigations into three incidents involving aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.
"We are not obligated to prove the truth because it is already proven to the whole world," Eid Azizi, a Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson, told news agency AP. "We shouldn't have reached this point if they respected and followed the international humanitarian law."
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