Israel’s military announced on Wednesday that it will conduct internal investigations into the deaths of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in January 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in March 2025 in Gaza. Despite this, rights organizations point out that such inquiries rarely result in convictions.
The military stated that these investigation decisions were made following inquiries by its Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which also led to decisions on five incidents involving Palestinian fatalities.
One of the incidents under scrutiny involved the deaths of seven aid workers affiliated with the World Central Kitchen charity in April 2024. The military concluded that there was no basis to launch a criminal investigation due to the absence of reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.
Highlighting the challenges faced during intense combat operations across various fronts for over a thousand days, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) emphasized their commitment to examining exceptional incidents in compliance with international and domestic laws.
The killings of Hind Rajab in February 2024 and the 15 Palestinian medics in May 2025 received international attention. However, Israeli human rights groups argue that investigations into Israeli troops for criminal misconduct rarely lead to convictions, with very few indictments relative to the number of complaints.
Rajab’s grandmother expressed shock at the announcement, stating mistrust in Israel’s ability to conduct a fair investigation. She called for international scrutiny into her granddaughter’s death and the situation of children in Gaza, emphasizing the need for accountability and respect for the rights of all Gaza’s children.
According to UNICEF, as of last October, at least 64,000 Palestinian children had been killed or injured since the Gaza war began in October 2023. A report by the United Nations Human Rights Council in June accused Israeli security forces of deliberately targeting and killing Palestinian children in Gaza, a claim rejected by Israel as “propaganda.”
During Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, Hind Rajab found herself trapped in a car for hours, pleading for help from Palestinian medics via phone while her relatives lay dead nearby. Subsequently, her body, along with her relatives and two ambulance workers, was discovered after 12 days.
A film depicting the tragic events surrounding Hind Rajab’s death received international acclaim, winning the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival and receiving an Academy Award nomination.
In March 2025, 15 emergency and aid workers from the Red Crescent, Palestinian Civil Defense, and the United Nations were found buried in a grave in the southern Gaza Strip. UN officials demanded answers and justice, attributing their deaths to Israeli forces while attempting to save lives.
Israel maintains that it does not intentionally target civilians during the conflict, alleging that Hamas endangers civilians by using them as shields. The Israeli military, in response to questions about the Red Crescent workers’ deaths, mentioned facilitating the recovery of the bodies from an active combat zone without addressing specific queries regarding the circumstances of their retrieval.
Eid Aziz, the media director for the Red Crescent, emphasized the importance of protecting medical staff executing humanitarian duties, citing international laws safeguarding the Red Crescent emblem and the vital role of medical personnel in such conflict zones.