Israeli military launches criminal probes into killings of Hind Rajab, Palestinian paramedics

Israel’s military said Wednesday it would launch criminal investigations into two high-profile attacks on Palestinians during the war in Gaza, including the killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family and the deaths of 15 Palestinian paramedics.

The military said it would not open criminal investigations into three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.

In a statement, the military said it had completed reviews of 150 incidents involving the conduct of troops in Gaza and reached decisions on five cases.

The statement did not address several other high-profile killings that the military has previously pledged to investigate. It also did not mention Israeli strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza that killed five journalists in August 2025, including Mariam Dagga, a visual journalist who freelanced for The Associated Press and other news organisations.

The killing of Rajab in February 2024 and the deaths of 15 Palestinian medics in May 2025 drew international attention.

Rajab was killed alongside relatives while trying to flee Gaza City during an Israeli offensive. Israeli troops opened fire on a vehicle carrying Hind, four of her cousins and her aunt and uncle.

Hind’s cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamada, called the Palestinian Red Crescent’s paramedic centre, saying a tank was approaching and that her family had been killed. Seconds later, gunshots were heard and Layan’s screams stopped, according to a recording of the call released by the Red Crescent.

Hind was the only survivor in the vehicle. The Red Crescent remained in contact with her while trying to secure permission from the Israeli military to rescue her, but contact was eventually lost.

Hind, her five relatives and two paramedics were found dead 12 days later.

The 15 paramedics were killed when Israeli troops opened fire on their vehicles in Rafah in southern Gaza before burying them in a mass grave.

Troops first fired on an ambulance travelling to retrieve casualties from an Israeli offensive and later opened fire on several other emergency vehicles sent to search for it, according to phone footage and the sole survivor of the shootings.

The troops then used a bulldozer to cover the bodies and the wrecked vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. UN personnel and rescue workers reached the site a week later and recovered the bodies.

The Israeli military initially said the vehicles had been “advancing suspiciously” towards nearby troops without headlights or emergency signals. It later revised its account after footage emerged showing Red Crescent and Civil Defence vehicles moving slowly with emergency lights flashing and their logos clearly visible.

“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 The Associated Press by phone. “We shouldn’t have reached this point if they respected and followed international humanitarian law.”