Israel’s military announced on Wednesday that it will 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, human rights organizations argue that such inquiries rarely result in convictions.
The decision to investigate these incidents came after the Israeli military’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism conducted examinations into five different events involving Palestinian fatalities. One of these incidents involved the deaths of seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen charity in April 2024. The military concluded that there was no substantial evidence of criminal misconduct to warrant a criminal investigation in that case.
The Israeli military emphasized that over the past thousand days, they have been engaged in extensive combat operations across various fronts in a highly complex operational environment. As part of their obligations under international and domestic laws, the military reviews exceptional incidents that occur during combat operations.
The killings of Hind Rajab in February 2024 and the 15 Palestinian medics in May 2025 received significant global attention. However, Israeli rights groups highlight that investigations into Israeli troops for potential criminal actions resulting in the deaths of Palestinians often do not lead to convictions.
A spokesperson for the Israeli rights organization Yesh Din expressed that there are minimal indictments relative to the number of complaints against soldiers and commanders for offenses. In cases where convictions do occur, the sentences are notably lenient compared to the severity of the crimes.
Hind Rajab’s grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, insisted that the Israeli investigation is insufficient and called for an international inquiry into her granddaughter’s death and the numerous children who lost their lives in Gaza during the conflict. She emphasized the need for accountability and justice for all the children affected.
In a UN Human Rights Council report released in June, evidence suggested that Israeli security forces intentionally targeted and killed Palestinian children in Gaza. Israel rejected the report, labeling it as propaganda.
During the conflict in response to a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, Hind Rajab was trapped in a car for hours, pleading for help from Palestinian medics via mobile phone. Despite her calls, she and her deceased relatives were only discovered later, along with two ambulance workers.
A documentary depicting Hind Rajab’s tragic death won awards and nominations, drawing international attention to the incident. In another distressing event in March 2025, 15 emergency and aid workers were found buried in the sand in the southern Gaza Strip, prompting calls for accountability and justice.
Israeli forces maintain that they do not deliberately target civilians in Gaza and blame Hamas for endangering civilian lives by using them as shields. The military did not provide immediate comments on the deaths of the Red Crescent workers but later mentioned facilitating the removal of the bodies from an active combat zone.
The Red Crescent emphasized the protection of medical personnel under international laws and stressed the importance of preventing such tragic incidents in the future.
