Two and a Half Years After the Crime, the Israeli Occupation Army Admits to Killing Child Hind Rajab

More than two and a half years after the incident, the Israeli army admitted that its forces opened fire on a vehicle carrying five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab and members of her family in Gaza in 2024, stating that it had launched a criminal investigation. However, human rights groups say such investigations rarely result in convictions.

The killing of Hind Rajab was among the most prominent cases of civilian casualties during the Israeli occupation’s assault on Gaza since October 2023.

Hind died after being trapped inside her car for hours, desperately pleading via mobile phone with Palestinian paramedics to send help, while five of her relatives had already been killed.

An ambulance was dispatched, but shortly after it arrived at the scene, contact between the operations room staff and the girl and the paramedics was lost.

The Israeli army had previously denied having troops in the area near where she was killed.

On Wednesday, it said that after a months-long investigation conducted by its Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, it had concluded that forces had opened fire on her vehicle as it approached.

It added that a shell was later fired at a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance that had been sent to rescue her.

In a statement, the Israeli army said: “After reviewing the findings, and in light of alleged failures in coordinating the movement of the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance, a criminal investigation into the incident has been opened.”

The army said the Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism would also open a criminal investigation into the killing of 15 emergency and relief workers in March 2025.

In three other incidents, including the killing of seven relief workers from the charity World Central Kitchen in April 2024, the army said it found no grounds to justify opening criminal investigations.