Israel admits firing on car killing 5-year-old Hind Rajab, orders criminal probe

On a Wednesday in August 2026, the Israeli military released a statement acknowledging what it had denied for more than two years: its troops had fired on a white Kia Picanto carrying a five-year-old girl named Hind Rajab and six members of her family as they tried to escape Gaza City in January 2024. The admission came with an announcement that the military would open a criminal investigation into the killing.

Hind's death had become one of the most visible casualties of the early months of the Gaza conflict, a name that circled the world. On January 29, 2024, as Israeli forces launched a new offensive into Gaza City, the Rajab family attempted to flee. The car was struck. All seven occupants were killed. But Hind's death was not immediate. For three hours, she remained alive in the wreckage, calling the Palestinian Red Crescent on her phone, pleading for someone to come and rescue her. Paramedics stayed on the line with her, listening, unable to reach her in time. When an ambulance finally attempted to get to her, it too came under fire. Two medics were killed in that strike. The bodies of everyone in the car—Hind and her six relatives—were not recovered until twelve days later, after Israeli troops had withdrawn from the area.

For years, the Israeli Defense Forces had insisted its soldiers were not in the vicinity when the car was hit. Journalists and investigators had gathered evidence suggesting otherwise: nearby Israeli tanks appeared to be responsible. The military's Wednesday statement effectively ended that denial. It also confirmed that troops had fired on the ambulance.

The acknowledgment of Hind's death was part of a broader review the military released that day, examining four other high-profile incidents involving civilian casualties. In one case, the military announced it would launch a criminal investigation into the killing of fifteen Palestinian medics and humanitarian workers near Rafah in March 2025. According to phone footage and accounts from the sole survivor, Israeli troops lying in ambush for Hamas militants had opened fire on an ambulance attempting to retrieve casualties from an Israeli offensive. As more emergency vehicles approached, soldiers fired on them repeatedly. Afterward, troops used a bulldozer to bury the bodies and vehicles in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers did not reach the site for a week. The military initially claimed the vehicles were advancing suspiciously without headlights or emergency signals. That account collapsed when footage emerged showing the Red Crescent and civil defence teams driving slowly, emergency lights flashing, logos clearly visible on their vehicles. Munther Abed, a Palestinian paramedic who survived the shooting and lost fifteen colleagues, said he hoped those responsible would face justice. "I want to say to the whole world, ambulances 101 is not a target and they must be protected," he said, referring to the speed dial number for the Red Crescent service.

But the military's review also contained decisions not to prosecute. It announced it would not open a criminal investigation into airstrikes in April 2024 that killed seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, a US-based aid organization. The vehicles, clearly marked with the group's logo and visible from the air, had been hit in a series of strikes that left them incinerated and mangled. The military said it had mistaken individuals in the vehicles for armed Hamas operatives and that the convoy had deviated from a previously coordinated route. It concluded that "the decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct." Two officers were removed from their positions; three others were reprimanded. Among the dead was Zomi Frankcom, an Australian aid worker. The Australian government called the deaths a tragedy and an outrage, pressing for accountability. World Central Kitchen rejected the military's account entirely. "There has never been any excuse or justification for the attacks," the organization said. "At the time of the lethal attacks, the IDF knew that our team in Gaza was unarmed and posing a threat to nobody. It had full visual clarity on our clearly marked humanitarian vehicles during the extended, multiple airstrikes."

The military also declined to pursue criminal action in the deaths of four humanitarian workers from Doctors Without Borders, killed in two separate incidents in November 2023 and February 2024. Israel later effectively barred the medical charity from operating in Gaza.

Historically, investigations into Israeli military conduct over the killing of Palestinians have rarely resulted in convictions. Dan Owen, a researcher at Yesh Din, an Israeli rights organization, noted that over the past decade only a tiny fraction of investigations had led to indictments. Growing political pressure, he said, further discouraged Israeli law enforcement from holding those responsible accountable, even when clear evidence existed. A UN report published in February had described "a pervasive climate of impunity" by Israel in occupied Palestine in relation to gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of humanitarian law, some potentially constituting war crimes.

The military said it examined "exceptional incidents that occurred during combat" as part of its obligations under international law and Israeli domestic law. "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," it said. The war that began in October 2023 with a Hamas attack killing 1,200 people in southern Israel has, according to current counts, killed more than 73,000 in Gaza, mostly women and children. Since a fragile ceasefire took effect in October 2025, more than 1,200 additional Palestinians have been killed.