Israel’s military announced on Wednesday that it will conduct internal inquiries into the deaths of Palestinian child Hind Rajab in January 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in March 2025 in Gaza. Despite the military’s decision, human rights organizations pointed out that such investigations rarely result in convictions.
The military stated that the investigation decisions were based on assessments by its Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, addressing 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 concluded that there was no substantial evidence of criminal wrongdoing warranting a criminal investigation in that case.
In response to criticisms, the Israeli military emphasized its ongoing combat operations across various challenging environments for over a thousand days. It highlighted its commitment to examining exceptional incidents during combat in compliance with international and domestic laws.
The killings of Hind Rajab in February 2024 and the 15 Palestinian medics in May 2025 garnered global attention. Israeli rights groups expressed skepticism regarding the effectiveness of criminal investigations into Israeli troops involved in Palestinian deaths, citing limited convictions and lenient sentences for offenders.
Rajab’s grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, expressed disbelief at the announcement of the investigations, stating a lack of trust in Israel’s ability to conduct a fair inquiry. She called for other countries to investigate what happened to her granddaughter and other children in Gaza, demanding accountability for the soldiers responsible for Hind’s death.
According to UNICEF, at least 64,000 Palestinian children have been killed or injured since the onset of the Gaza conflict in October 2023. The United Nations Human Rights Council released a report in June implicating Israeli security forces in the deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian children in Gaza, a claim rejected by Israel as propaganda.
The tragic incident involving Hind Rajab, where she pleaded for help while trapped in a car during an Israeli offensive in October 2023, resulted in the deaths of her family members and rescuers. A film depicting her story won accolades and brought international attention to her plight. In a separate incident in March 2025, 15 emergency and aid workers were discovered in a grave in southern Gaza, prompting calls for justice and answers from UN officials.
Israeli forces maintain that they never intentionally target civilians in Gaza, attributing civilian casualties to Hamas’s use of them as shields. The military did not offer immediate comment on the deaths of the Red Crescent workers but stated that it facilitated the retrieval of bodies from an active combat zone. The Red Crescent emphasized the protection of medical personnel under international laws, calling for prevention of such tragedies rather than investigations after the fact.