Amer Hlehel, Kawther Ben Hania, Saja Kilani, Motaz Malhees, and Clara Khoury posing with a portrait of Hind Rajab, on the red carpet before the presentation of the film "The Voice of Hind Rajab" at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, Sept. 3, 2025. (Credit: Tiziana Fabi/AFP)
Israel's military said on Wednesday that it will open internal investigations over its troops' killings in Gaza of 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in January 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in March 2025, although rights groups rightfully doubt such probes will lead to convictions.
The military said the investigation decisions followed probes by its Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism. It released decisions regarding five incidents involving the killings 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 said there was "no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct that would justify the opening of a criminal investigation."
Israeli rights groups say that criminal misconduct investigations into Israeli troops over the killing of Palestinians rarely lead to convictions.
"Nearly zero indictments are served relative to the number of complaints of soldiers and commanders who commit offenses. In rare cases when commanders or soldiers are convicted, they receive ridiculously lenient sentences compared with the severity of the offense," a spokesperson for the Israeli rights organization Yesh Din said.
During Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas operation, Hind Rajab was pinned down in a car for hours, begging Palestinian medics by mobile phone to send help, while her aunt, uncle and three cousins already lay dead. When an ambulance arrived, contact with the girl and the rescuers themselves was lost. Twelve days later, the bodies of the girl, her relatives and two ambulance workers were recovered from the area. A film about Hind Rajab's death won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.
In March 2025, 15 emergency and aid workers from the Red Crescent, Palestinian Civil Defense, and the United Nations were recovered from a grave in the sand in the south of the Gaza Strip, U.N. officials said at the time.
U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said in a post on X that the bodies were buried near "wrecked & well-marked vehicles," adding: "They were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives. We demand answers & justice."
The Israeli military did not immediately comment directly on the deaths of the Red Crescent workers at the time. In a later statement to Reuters, it said that it had facilitated the evacuation of the bodies from the area, which it described as an active combat zone. It did not specifically respond to questions about why the bodies were retrieved from beneath the sand or why the vehicles were found crushed.
Eid Aziz, media director for the Red Crescent, told Reuters: "More important than opening the investigation is that this should have been prevented. The Palestinian Red Crescent badge is protected by international laws, and the medical staff must be protected, especially as they execute their duties and humanitarian work.”
