Israel to open internal criminal probes into Gaza killings of Hind Rajab and aid workers

Israel’s military will open internal investigations over its troops’ killings in Gaza of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in January 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in March 2025, it has said, although rights groups warn such probes rarely lead to convictions. The military said on Wednesday the investigation decisions followed probes by its Fact-Finding and Assessment ‌Mechanism. It released decisions regarding five incidents involving the deaths of Palestinians. They included an...

Israel’s military will open internal criminal investigations over its troops’ killings in Gaza of Hind Rajab in January 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in March 2025, it said on Wednesday. The military said the investigation decisions followed probes by its Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism. It released decisions regarding five incidents involving the deaths of Palestinians. They included an examination of the killings of seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity in April 2024. On that incident, the military claimed there was “no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct that would justify the opening of a criminal investigation.” “For more than a thousand days, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has been conducting intensive combat across numerous fronts, carrying out a wide range of military missions in an exceptionally complex operational reality,” the Israeli military said. “As part of the IDF’s obligations under international law and Israeli domestic law, the IDF examines exceptional incidents that occurred during combat,” the military said. In January 2024, six-year-old Hind pleaded to be rescued, after her family’s car came under fire in war-ravaged Gaza City, leaving her alone, frightened and injured, surrounded by the bodies of her dead relatives. “I am so scared,” she had said in a desperate phone call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS). “Call someone to come get me, please.” After more than two weeks of frantic efforts to reach her, Hind’s body, along with those of her relatives and two PRCS workers who had been dispatched to rescue her, was recovered. An independent investigation by the London-based research group Forensic Architecture analysed satellite imagery and visual evidence, concluding that several Israeli tanks were near the vehicle and that one fired 335 rounds at the car carrying Hind and her family. The group also suggested that a tank likely attacked the ambulance. Hind’s story and the recording of her emergency call later became the basis for the docudrama “The Voice of Hind Rajab” by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania. The film was nominated for best international feature film in the Academy Awards this year. The film incorporates real audio from Hind’s call to Red Crescent emergency workers. In March this year, US lawmakers introduced legislation demanding a US investigation into Hind’s killing.

The military said the investigation followed probes by its Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, but rights groups say criminal investigations into Israeli troops over Palestinian deaths rarely lead to convictions

JERUSALEM, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Israel's military will open internal criminal investigations over its troops' killings of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in January 2024 and fifteen emergency and aid workers in March 2025, the military said on Wednesday. The military said the investigation decisions followed probes by its Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism. It released decisions regarding five incidents involving the deaths of Palestinians.

The investigations will focus on the killings of 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind ⁠Rajab and 15 emergency aid workers in Gaza. The decision came after a review of 150 incidents concerning the conduct of Israeli troops.