The Israeli military has announced it will launch a criminal investigation into the death of five-year-old Hind Rajab, whose final, desperate moments in a bullet-riddled car became a symbol of the conflict in Gaza.

On Wednesday, the military admitted its troops fired on the vehicle carrying the young girl in early 2024. This admission marks a significant shift from previous denials, where the military had claimed its forces were not present in the area at the time of the incident.

The body of Hind Rajab was recovered days after she was last heard from during a harrowing, hours-long phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent on January 29, 2024. She was attempting to flee Gaza City with her family when their car came under fire. She was eventually found alongside six relatives and two rescue workers who had been sent to save her. Her story gained such international prominence that audio of her final call was included in the Oscar-nominated film, "The Voice of Hind Rajab".

Military police to probe fatal Gaza shootings

The decision to open a criminal probe followed a review of 150 incidents of troop conduct. Regarding the girl's death, the military stated that its findings showed troops "fired at a vehicle that was approaching them while travelling contrary to the advance notice" provided to residents.

While Hind and her cousin Layan Hamada initially survived the first volley of gunfire, the rescue attempt also ended in tragedy. The military noted that an ambulance had been coordinated to evacuate them. However, according to the military's statement: "upon the ambulance's arrival at the scene of the incident, a shell was fired toward it, resulting in the deaths of the two paramedics travelling in it".

Despite the move toward a criminal investigation, the Brussels-based Hind Rajab Foundation expressed "no confidence" in the process. The group stated: "These reported investigations, even if they do occur, should not be mistaken for a genuine step toward justice," claiming that internal Israeli mechanisms are "fundamentally flawed".

Mass grave findings spark further investigations

Alongside the Rajab case, the military is launching a separate criminal investigation into the March 2025 killing of 15 Palestinians in southern Gaza. This incident involved the deaths of medical and humanitarian personnel near the city of Rafah.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that first responders were killed by Israeli forces on March 23, 2025, as they searched for missing colleagues. The military stated that during an ambush against Hamas, three shooting incidents occurred involving a fire truck, ambulances, and a UN vehicle.

Following the shootings, the military admitted that troops decided "to crush the vehicles and to cover the bodies with metal mesh". The victims were later discovered in what OCHA described as a mass grave. The military has now decided to initiate a probe after finding that "the firing conducted during the incident raises a reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct".

While these two high-profile cases will face the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division, the military confirmed it will not launch criminal probes into three other incidents involving the deaths of staff from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.