Hind died after a desperate three-hour phone call<\/a> to the Palestinian Red Crescent on 29 January 2024 in which she pleaded for rescue. The family\u2019s Kia Picanto car had been hit as the family sought to flee a new Israeli offensive into Gaza City. All the other passengers were also killed.<\/p>\n The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repeatedly denied its troops had been present in the area near the incident, but investigations by media and others found evidence that strongly suggested nearby Israeli tanks were responsible.<\/p>\n A child looks at the car in which Hind Rajab died in January 2024. Photograph: Reuters<\/p>\n Palestinian paramedics dispatched an ambulance to rescue Hind and stayed on the line until contact was lost, but the ambulance too came under fire, killing two medics. The bodies of the casualties were only retrieved 12 days later when Israeli troops withdrew. The IDF also admitted Wednesday that troops had fired on the ambulance.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing review of the findings and due to alleged failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine<\/a> Red Crescent ambulance, it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident by military police criminal investigation division,\u201d the military said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Criminal misconduct investigations into Israeli troops over the killing of Palestinians rarely lead to convictions.<\/p>\n The IDF published reviews on Wednesday into four other high-profile incidents in Gaza, saying it was launching a criminal investigation into the killing in near the southern city of Rafah of 15 Palestinian medics and humanitarian personnel<\/a> in March 2025.<\/p>\n Troops lying in ambush for Hamas militants initially shot at an ambulance that was trying to retrieve casualties from an Israeli offensive, then fired on a series of emergency vehicles which approached their positions, according to phone footage and the sole survivor of the shootings.<\/p>\n The soldiers then bulldozed over the bodies and vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were killed in their uniforms. Driving their clearly marked vehicles. Wearing their gloves. On their way to save lives. This should never have happened,\u201d said Jonathan Whittall, a UN official who helped recover the bodies.<\/p>\n The Israeli military initially said it had opened fire because the vehicles were \u201cadvancing suspiciously\u201d without headlights or emergency signals. But it backtracked from that account after footage emerged showing the Red Crescent and civil defence teams driving slowly with their emergency vehicle lights flashing and logos visible.<\/p>\n Red Crescent paramedics arrive at the mass grave where their colleagues bodies were buried. Photograph: OCHA\/Red Crescent<\/p>\n Munther Abed, a Palestinian paramedic who was present at the incident in which 15 of his colleagues were killed, said he hoped \u201cthose who killed \u2060my colleagues, who were like family to me, face justice, real justice\u201d. \u201cI want to say to the whole world, ambulances 101 \u200bis not a target and they must be protected,\u201d he said referring \u200bto the speed dial number for the Red Crescent service \u200bin Gaza.<\/p>\n The IDF said it had decided not to open a criminal investigation into the April 2024 airstrikes that hit a convoy of World Central Kitchen vehicles, killing seven humanitarian workers from the US-based aid group, which has distributed food in Gaza throughout the war.<\/p>\n The aid group said at the time it had coordinated with the military over the movement of its cars. The vehicles, which had the group\u2019s logo on their roofs visible from the air, were left incinerated and mangled, indicating a series of targeted strikes.<\/p>\n One of the World Central Kitchen vehicles hit by an Israeli airstrike Photograph: NurPhoto\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The IDF said on Wednesday it had mistaken several individuals in the vehicles for armed Hamas military operatives, and that the convoy deviated from the previously coordinated route. But it concluded that \u201cthe decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct\u201d. Two officers were removed from their positions at the time and three others reprimanded.<\/p>\n World Central Kitchen said it strongly disagreed with Israeli officials\u2019 account of the airstrikes and their decision not to pursue a criminal investigation. \u201cThere has never been any excuse or justification for the attacks, and there is nothing in this account that does so. The decision is inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time of the lethal attacks, the IDF knew that our team in Gaza was unarmed and posing a threat to nobody. It had full visual clarity on our clearly marked humanitarian vehicles during the extended, multiple airstrikes. It knew our team\u2019s movements, identities and activities in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n The military also decided not to take criminal action over the killing of four humanitarian workers from Doctors Without Borders in two separate instances in November 2023 and February 2024. Israel later effectively barred the medical charity from operating in Gaza.<\/p>\n Dan Owen, a researcher at Yesh Din, an Israeli rights organisation, said that over the last decade only a tiny proportion of investigations had led to indictments while growing political pressure \u201cfurther deters Israeli \u2060law-enforcement authorities from holding those responsible accountable, even when clear evidence does exist\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"Recording](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787167089_856_1600.jpg\")
Recording of Hind Rajab and phone operator \u2013 audio<\/p>\n