Israel’s military announced on Wednesday that they will be launching internal investigations into the killings of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in January 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in March 2025 in Gaza. However, human rights organizations suggest that these inquiries typically do not result in convictions.
The military stated that these investigation decisions were made following reviews conducted by their Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which culminated in determinations concerning five incidents involving Palestinian fatalities.
Among these incidents was an inquiry into the deaths of seven aid workers associated with the World Central Kitchen charity in April 2024. The military concluded that there was insufficient evidence to warrant the initiation of a criminal investigation.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Forces] has been engaged in intensive combat operations on multiple fronts for over a thousand days, executing a variety of military missions in an exceedingly intricate operational environment,” the Israeli military stated.
“As part of the IDF’s obligations under international and Israeli laws, exceptional incidents occurring during combat are scrutinized by the IDF,” the military further elaborated.
The killings of Rajab in February 2024 and the 15 Palestinian medics in May 2025 garnered significant global attention. Nevertheless, Israeli rights groups argue that investigations into alleged criminal misconduct by Israeli troops in relation to Palestinian deaths seldom lead to convictions.
Yesh Din, an Israeli rights organization, asserted that convictions of soldiers and commanders for offenses are extremely rare, and when they do occur, the resulting sentences are disproportionately lenient given the gravity of the crimes.
CBC News freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife interviewed Rajab’s grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, who expressed shock at the military’s decision. She voiced skepticism regarding Israel’s ability to conduct a fair investigation and called for other countries to probe the circumstances surrounding her granddaughter’s death and those of other children in Gaza.
“We demand accountability for the unjust killing of innocent Hind. All the children in Gaza deserve their rights,” the grandmother emphasized.
According to UNICEF, as of last October, approximately 64,000 Palestinian children had suffered injuries or fatalities since the onset of the Gaza conflict in October 2023.
In a report released in June, the United Nations Human Rights Council alleged that Israeli security forces deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children in Gaza. Israel dismissed the report as “propaganda.”
During Israel’s retaliation 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 while several of her family members had already perished. The subsequent arrival of an ambulance led to a loss of communication with both the girl and the rescuers. The bodies of Rajab, her relatives, and two ambulance workers were discovered twelve days later.
A film depicting Hind Rajab’s tragic ordeal, which sparked international outrage, received the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.
In March 2025, the remains of 15 emergency and aid workers from the Red Crescent, Palestinian Civil Defense, and the United Nations were unearthed from a grave in the southern Gaza Strip. UN officials disclosed that the bodies were found near wrecked vehicles and had been killed by Israeli forces while attempting to save lives.
Israeli forces maintain that they do not deliberately target civilians in Gaza, asserting that Hamas often uses them as shields, putting their lives at risk.
The Israeli military did not immediately address the fatalities of the Red Crescent workers, citing the area as an active combat zone. They facilitated the retrieval of the bodies but did not provide specifics on why the bodies were buried or why the vehicles were damaged.
Eid Aziz, the media director for the Red Crescent, emphasized the importance of preventing such tragedies, highlighting the need to safeguard medical personnel executing their humanitarian duties, as protected by international laws.
[Source: CBC News]