Full story
Criminal probes ordered
Israel’s military said Wednesday it would open criminal investigations into the killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and 15 Palestinian paramedics in Gaza, while deciding not to open criminal probes into three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.
“The military said it would not launch criminal investigations into three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.”
The IDF ordered Military Police investigations into the January 2024 death of Hind Rajab and the March 2025 killing of 15 Palestinians in Tel al-Sultan in Rafah, after it said it had completed reviews of about 150 incidents since the October 7 massacre.
In the Hind Rajab case, the military said troops fired at a family vehicle while it was traveling against the evacuation direction previously announced to residents, killing five occupants while Hind and her cousin Layan initially survived.
In the Rafah paramedic case, the military said troops set up an ambush along a main access route, fired on vehicles identified as belonging to Hamas, and later said 15 Palestinians were killed, with the force crushing the vehicles and covering the bodies with metal netting.
The IDF also said it cleared troops of criminal wrongdoing in the World Central Kitchen strike, after it concluded that commanders’ decisions did not cross the criminal threshold despite failures in the process.
Competing accounts and quotes
Al Jazeera reported that Israel’s military admitted it fired on the car carrying Hind Rajab and announced a criminal investigation, after earlier denials and after journalistic investigations including by Al Jazeera.
In Al Jazeera’s account, Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson Eid Azizi said, “We are not obligated to prove the truth because it is already proven to the whole world,” adding, “We shouldn’t have reached this point if they respected and followed the international humanitarian law.”
The BBC described the IDF’s statement that it would open a criminal investigation into Hind, her family and the paramedics’ killings, and quoted the IDF saying it was due to “alleged failures in the co-ordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance.”
The BBC also reported that Hind’s grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, told The Associated Press by phone that the Israeli investigation is not enough and called for an international probe, saying, “An international investigation is required to uncover the truth and hold all those responsible accountable.”
While the IDF said it would not launch criminal investigations into three other attacks involving aid workers, the AP reported that the military’s statement did not mention other high-profile killings it has pledged to investigate throughout the war, including Israeli strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza that killed five journalists in August 2025, including Mariam Dagga.
What’s at stake next
The IDF’s criminal-probe decisions were framed as part of a process that it said examined “exceptional operational incidents” during wartime, with the Military Advocate-General’s Corps issuing its first landmark war crimes report since October 7 regarding over 150 probes.
“resulted in the opening of two criminal probes, two disciplinary probes, and the closure of one of the cases.”
In the Jerusalem Post’s description of the IDF’s report, investigations into five major cases resulted in the opening of two criminal probes, two disciplinary probes, and the closure of one case, and it said the update that 150 cases are under criminal investigation was a jump from the around 100 number told to the Post on June 18.
The Jerusalem Post also said the WCK incident was handled as disciplinary rather than criminal, after the report said the IDF surveillance officials misidentified WCK security officials as Hamas and then misidentified other WCK officials as armed.
For the Hind Rajab case, the Jerusalem Post said Offir ordered that the probe be continued as a full criminal probe, and it described the “most serious part” as the second strike on rescuers sent to save her.
In the Rafah paramedic case, the IDF review described in ynetglobal and ynetnews said troops bulldozed over bodies and vehicles and buried them in a mass grave, while the IDF said U.N. and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later to dig out the bodies—an outcome that rights groups and UN officials have tied to demands for accountability.
