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Criminal probes in Gaza
Israel’s military announced it would open its first criminal investigations into troop conduct in Gaza, focusing on the killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family and of 15 Palestinian paramedics.
“Chef José Andrés, founder of U.S.-based World Central Kitchen, condemned the decision on X as "wrong and painful."”
The probes follow Israel’s admission that its troops opened fire on a car carrying Hind Rajab and her family members in Gaza in 2024, and that it later fired a shell at a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance dispatched to save her.
The military said it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct in Gaza and made decisions on five cases, while it said it would not probe three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.
NPR reported that Chef José Andrés, founder of U.S.-based World Central Kitchen, condemned the decision on X as "wrong and painful."
The NPR account also said Hind was trapped in a vehicle with her slain relatives, pleading for help by phone before she too was killed in February 2024, and that after the shooting of the 15 medics in March 2025, troops bulldozed their bodies into a mass grave.
Australia presses for accountability
Australia summoned Israel’s ambassador, Hillel Newman, after Israel decided not to open a criminal investigation into an April 2024 strike in Deir al-Balah that killed seven aid workers, including Australian citizen Zomi Frankcom.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, "This decision falls far short of the accountability we expect," and she added that Australia was outraged by the decision.
Haaretz reported that Israel’s ambassador to Australia said the findings of the court were that there was "no criminal intention, no intention to hit at aid workers, and therefore no criminal responsibility," while also saying there were operational failures.
France 24 said Wong described relations with Israel as "difficult" after it dropped a probe into the killing of aid worker Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom and her colleagues in Gaza.
The dispute centered on Israel’s account that IDF personnel tried unsuccessfully to contact WCK during the roughly half-hour the convoy was tracked, and that the commanders’ decisions "did not cross the criminal threshold."
Aid workers and the next steps
Beyond the Gaza probes, the UN warned that aid workers face a deadly and evolving threat, with armed drones reshaping battlefields worldwide and putting humanitarian teams increasingly in the line of fire.
“907 aid workers were victims of violence last year”
UN News said OCHA marked World Humanitarian Day by warning that 907 aid workers were victims of violence last year simply going about their lifesaving work, and that 350 humanitarian staff were killed in 2025.
It also reported that Gaza remained the deadliest context for aid workers in 2025 for the third consecutive year, with 186 killed and 68 per cent by aerial bombardment.
In Gaza, NPR said rights groups and U.N. commissions have said Israel’s campaign amounts to genocide and that Israeli forces have committed a litany of war crimes, while Israel denies accusations of genocide and war crimes and says it is targeting Hamas after its October 2023 attack on southern Israel.
NPR further reported that Hind Rajab’s grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, told the AP by phone that the Israeli investigation into her killing is not enough, saying, "An international investigation is required to uncover the truth and hold all those responsible accountable," and adding, "We call for justice, not only for Hind, but for all Gaza children."
