Israeli military orders criminal investigations into killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and 15 others in Gaza

Key Points:

• The Israeli military has ordered criminal investigations into the killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and the March 2025 killing of 15 Gazans, including rescue workers, after acknowledging troops fired on the vehicle carrying Rajab's family in Gaza City in January 2024.
• Rajab's death sparked international outrage following a widely heard recording of her final moments pleading for rescue amid gunfire, with her body and those of two paramedics recovered 12 days later; the IDF admitted forces had opened fire despite granting ambulance safe passage.
• The IDF also opened a probe into the killing of Palestinian medics in Tel al-Sultan, Gaza, after video evidence contradicted initial claims that the vehicles were suspicious, showing instead that medics were clearly marked and unthreatening when attacked.
• Video footage revealed Israeli troops bulldozing over the bodies and vehicles of the killed medics, which the IDF justified by stating Hamas operatives were among the dead and that the vehicles were crushed to cover the bodies.
• Despite these investigations, past IDF probes rarely lead to convictions, with a recent report showing 88% of publicly acknowledged military investigations into alleged war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank stalled or closed without findings.