Gaza Genocide · 19 August, 2026 · 3 min read
Israel Opens Criminal Probe After Troops Kill 5-Year-Old Hind Rajab in Gaza City
IDF admitted firing on Hind Rajab’s car and opened a criminal investigation. Hind Rajab, five-year-old, killed with six relatives in Gaza City (January 2024).
131 outlets, one story, no spin found.
9 of 11 outlets skipped it: IDF said it would not probe some attacks like WCK/Doctors Without Borders killings.
Al-Monitor was read line by line by the Watchdog: 6.2. See the score →
131outlets compared
Probe after Hind Rajab killing
Israel’s military announced a criminal investigation into the death of five-year-old Hind Rajab, after it previously denied its soldiers were even in the area where she was killed in Gaza City.
“due to alleged failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance”
The Al Jazeera report says the probe was decided on Wednesday following a review of findings and “due to alleged failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance,” and it places Rajab’s death on January 29, 2024 at about 7:30pm.
Al Jazeera says Rajab died of her injuries while trapped in a car surrounded by the bodies of her relatives after her family was forcibly displaced hours earlier from Gaza City, and it adds that Israel’s army fired more than 300 bullets at the black Kia driven by her uncle.
The Associated Press reports that Israel’s military on Wednesday announced its first criminal investigations into troop conduct in Gaza, focusing on the killings of Hind Rajab and her family and of 15 Palestinian paramedics.
The AP also says the military admitted Wednesday that troops fired toward the ambulance dispatched to rescue Rajab, and that Hind, her five relatives and two medics were found dead 12 days later.
Skepticism and competing reactions
Hind Rajab’s grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, told the Associated Press 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.”
The Hind Rajab Foundation director Dyab Abou Jahjah told Al Jazeera that he does not believe the case will change anything, saying, “We do not trust the Israeli justice system, not out of an ideological position, but because of the track record,”
Al Jazeera reports that 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, and it notes World Central Kitchen said the decision was “wrong and painful.”
CNN reports that Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour slammed Israel’s past investigations as “not independent and not credible,” telling CNN’s Jim Sciutto that he doesn’t believe this investigation will be any different.
CNN also says the IDF General Staff’s Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism concluded investigating 150 incidents and that five decisions were published on Wednesday while others awaited a decision from the military advocate-general.
What the probes cover next
Alongside the Hind Rajab case, Israel’s military said it would open a criminal investigation into the March 2025 killing of 15 Palestinian paramedics, and it framed the decision as part of reviews conducted by its internal fact-finding mechanism.
“the criminal investigation into Rajab’s killing was decided on following a review of the findings”
Al Jazeera says the military announced it would review the case of Rajab and her family members in early 2024 as well as the killing of 15 Palestinian medics in March 2025, and it adds that the announcement followed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct.
The Associated Press reports that after the shooting of the 15 medics in March 2025, troops bulldozed their bodies into a mass grave and that U.N. and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later to dig out the bodies.
CBS News says the investigations will be conducted by Israeli military police and that the IDF ordered a criminal investigation into the killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and of 15 others.
CBS also reports that Rajab’s story was made into the award-winning 2025 docudrama “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” and it notes that the IDF said it would grant the ambulance safe passage before forces at the scene opened fire, killing those inside.