Israel’s military announced on Wednesday that internal investigations will be conducted regarding the deaths of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in January 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in Gaza in March 2025. Despite this, rights groups are skeptical as such probes often do not result in convictions.
The military stated that the decisions to investigate followed examinations by its Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, with outcomes released for five incidents involving Palestinian fatalities. Among these incidents was a review of the deaths of seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity in April 2024. The military concluded that there was no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct warranting a criminal investigation in that case.
Emphasizing the complexity of their operational reality, the Israeli military highlighted over a thousand days of intensive combat across numerous fronts. They affirmed their commitment to examining exceptional incidents during combat as part of their obligations under international and Israeli laws.
The killings of Hind Rajab in February 2024 and the 15 Palestinian medics in May 2025 garnered international attention. However, Israeli rights groups argue that investigations into Israeli troops for criminal misconduct in the killing of Palestinians rarely lead to convictions.
A spokesperson for the Israeli rights organization Yesh Din expressed dissatisfaction with the low rate of indictments in relation to soldier and commander offenses, highlighting the leniency of sentences when convictions do occur.
Reacting to the investigation announcement, Hind Rajab’s grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, expressed shock and lack of trust in Israel’s ability to conduct a fair investigation. She called for other countries to probe the incidents involving her granddaughter and other children in Gaza, demanding accountability for their deaths.
UNICEF reported last October that at least 64,000 Palestinian children had been killed or injured since the Gaza war began in October 2023. Additionally, a United Nations Human Rights Council report 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 a Hamas-led attack in October 2023, Hind Rajab was trapped in a car for hours, pleading for help from Palestinian medics via phone as her family members lay dead nearby. The subsequent recovery of the bodies of Hind Rajab, her relatives, and two ambulance workers garnered international attention, leading to a film about her death receiving accolades and nominations.
In March 2025, the bodies of 15 emergency and aid workers were discovered in a grave in the south of the Gaza Strip. UN officials revealed that the workers from various organizations were killed by Israeli forces while attempting to save lives. Calls for answers and justice were made by UN aid chief Tom Fletcher, emphasizing the need for accountability.
The Israeli military denied deliberately targeting civilians in the Gaza conflict, attributing civilian casualties to Hamas using them as shields. Despite facilitating the retrieval of the bodies from an active combat zone, the military did not directly address questions regarding the circumstances of the workers’ deaths. The Red Crescent highlighted the protection of medical staff under international laws, stressing the importance of preventing such tragic events.