Israel’s military announced on Wednesday that it would conduct internal investigations into the deaths of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in January 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in March 2025 in Gaza. Despite this move, rights organizations expressed skepticism about the likelihood of convictions resulting from such probes.
The military’s decision to launch investigations followed evaluations by its Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which resulted in rulings on five incidents involving Palestinian fatalities. Among these incidents was a review of the deaths of seven aid workers affiliated with the World Central Kitchen charity in April 2024. The military stated that there was no substantial evidence of criminal wrongdoing warranting a criminal investigation in that particular case.
According to the Israeli military, the ongoing intensive combat operations in multiple arenas have created a highly intricate operational environment over the past thousand days. As part of its obligations under international and domestic laws, the military examines exceptional incidents that occur during combat.
The killings of Hind Rajab in February 2024 and the 15 Palestinian medics in May 2025 captured global attention. However, Israeli rights groups highlighted that investigations into alleged criminal misconduct by Israeli soldiers concerning Palestinian deaths have historically resulted in minimal convictions.
A spokesperson for the Israeli rights organization Yesh Din noted the low rate of indictments relative to the number of complaints against soldiers and commanders. When convictions do occur, the spokesperson criticized the sentences as disproportionately lenient compared to the severity of the offenses.
Hind Rajab’s grandmother, who shares the same name, expressed shock at the announcement of the investigations. She voiced distrust in Israel’s ability to conduct a fair inquiry and called for international involvement in investigating her granddaughter’s death and the treatment of children in Gaza.
Demanding accountability for Hind’s killing, the grandmother emphasized the entitlement of all Gaza children to their rights. UNICEF reported last October that at least 64,000 Palestinian children had suffered injuries or fatalities since the onset of the Gaza conflict in October 2023.
In a separate development, a report from the United Nations Human Rights Council in June accused Israeli security forces of deliberately targeting and killing Palestinian children in Gaza. Israel dismissed the report as propaganda.
During the Israeli offensive following a Hamas-led attack in October 2023, Hind Rajab found herself trapped in a car for hours, pleading with Palestinian medics via phone for help while several family members had already died. Despite her distress call, communication was lost when an ambulance arrived. The bodies of Hind, her relatives, and two ambulance workers were recovered twelve days later.
A film depicting Hind Rajab’s tragic ordeal garnered international attention, winning the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival and earning an Academy Award nomination. In March 2025, the bodies of 15 emergency and aid workers, including members of the Red Crescent and Palestinian Civil Defense, were discovered in a grave in the southern Gaza Strip.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher demanded answers and justice for the workers, alleging they were killed by Israeli forces while carrying out rescue operations. The Israeli military denied deliberately targeting civilians and attributed civilian casualties to Hamas using them as shields.
The military did not initially comment on the deaths of the Red Crescent workers but later facilitated the recovery of the bodies from an active combat zone. Questions regarding the circumstances of the recovery remained unanswered. The Red Crescent emphasized the protections afforded to medical personnel under international law, calling for the prevention of such tragedies.