Israel investigates killing of Hind Rajab in Gaza
The Israeli military confirms for the first time it fired on a car carrying five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in 2024, launching a criminal probe.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- The Israeli military confirmed for the first time that troops fired on a car carrying five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in 2024.
- Rajab survived the initial attack and spent hours on the phone pleading for emergency rescue.
- An ambulance dispatched through coordination with the Israeli army was subsequently shelled, killing two paramedics.
- The IDF announced a criminal investigation into the killings of Hind, her family, paramedics, and 15 Palestinians in March 2025.
The Israeli military has officially confirmed for the first time that its forces opened fire on a vehicle carrying five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, resulting in her death alongside six relatives in Gaza in 2024. The tragic incident occurred in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City. While the IDF initially claimed no troops were present in the area during the incident, it later acknowledged conducting raids targeting militant positions nearby.
During the attack, young Hind survived the initial gunfire and managed to maintain a multi-hour telephone connection with operator Rana Faqih from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS). Her fragile voice pleading for rescue as she described approaching tanks deeply traumatized the operators on the line. After prolonged coordination, Red Crescent teams finally secured clearance to dispatch an ambulance after dark, crewed by Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, to reach the trapped child.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
However, communications with both the paramedics and the young girl abruptly cut off just as the rescue crew notified operators they were nearing the location and awaiting clearance. The PRCS later confirmed that the ambulance was bombed by Israeli forces, killing both crew members instantly. The harrowing story sparked global condemnation and inspired the Oscar-nominated film The Voice of Hind Rajab, while also being cited by the United Nations in inquiries accusing Israel of war crimes.
In a recent statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division will initiate a criminal probe into the incident due to alleged coordination failures involving the Red Crescent ambulance. Furthermore, the investigation will expand to examine the March 23, 2025 incident in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan area, where an IDF unit fired on an emergency convoy of ambulances, a fire engine, and a marked UN vehicle, leaving 15 dead whose bodies were later recovered from shallow graves.
"For more than a thousand days, the IDF has been conducting intensive combat across numerous fronts, carrying out a wide range of military missions in an exceptionally complex operational reality."
Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
The IDF's decision to launch a criminal investigation into the Hind Rajab case and subsequent convoy attacks comes under intense international scrutiny and pressure regarding accountability in the Gaza conflict. Although the military has published comprehensive reports on alleged violations for the first time since the war triggered on October 7, 2023, international bodies like the UN remain skeptical about whether these internal military investigations will yield genuine justice. The ongoing conflict has claimed over 73,000 lives according to figures from the Gaza health ministry, which are deemed reliable by the United Nations.
Source: BBC World
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