Israel army admits firing on car in death of five-year-old Hind Rajab

The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday that its troops fired on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza in 2024. It said it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing, which drew international outrage after her hours-long emergency call to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

What did Israel's military admit about Hind Rajab's death?

The military said it had opened a criminal investigation after finding "alleged failures in the coordination of the movement" of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance sent to rescue her. It had previously denied troops were present near the incident, but its Wednesday review confirmed they fired on the vehicle.

What happened to Hind Rajab in Gaza?

Hind Rajab's family came under fire while attempting to flee Gaza City on January 29, 2024, during an Israeli advance in northern Gaza. She made a desperate emergency call to the Palestinian Red Crescent from inside the car before her body was recovered days later, riddled with bullets, alongside six relatives and two Red Crescent rescue workers.

Her death sparked international outrage and calls for an independent investigation. The original audio of her emergency call was later incorporated into the Oscar-nominated film "The Voice of Hind Rajab."

What did the military's investigation into the incident find?

The military said its findings showed troops had fired at a vehicle "approaching them while travelling contrary to the advance notice" given to residents in the area. Five of the vehicle's passengers were killed. Hind Rajab and her cousin, Layan Hamada, survived the initial shooting.

The military said a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance was coordinated for evacuation after a call involving the girls, but "upon the ambulance's arrival at the scene of the incident, a shell was fired toward it," killing the two paramedics inside.

How has the Hind Rajab Foundation responded?

The Hind Rajab Foundation, a Brussels-based legal organization addressing alleged Israeli violations in Gaza, said it had "no confidence" in the military's move. It said the reported investigations "should not be mistaken for a genuine step toward justice," calling Israel's internal probes "fundamentally flawed" and not credible mechanisms of accountability.

What other Gaza incidents did the Israeli military review?

Alongside the Hind Rajab case, the military published reviews of four other high-profile Gaza incidents on Wednesday. It said no criminal investigations would follow the killings of World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) employees, both of which had drawn international scrutiny.

It did order a criminal investigation into the deaths of 15 Palestinians, including medical personnel, in southern Gaza in March 2025. The military described the episode as three shooting incidents during "an ambush carried out by IDF troops against operatives of the Hamas terrorist organization," and said troops had then crushed the vehicles and covered the bodies with metal mesh.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said at the time that first responders were killed by Israeli forces on March 23, 2025, with other emergency teams hit over several hours while searching for missing colleagues. Those killed included eight Red Crescent staff, six Gaza civil defense agency members, and one UN refugee agency employee, with bodies found in what OCHA described as a mass grave near Rafah. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said the incident raised "further concerns over the commission of war crimes by the Israeli military."