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

Hind Rajab's body was recovered from a car riddled with bullets in Gaza City days after she was last heard from in a desperate, hours-long phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent on January 29, 2024.

The Israeli military had previously denied its troops were present in the area near the incident.

"Following review of the findings and due to alleged failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance, it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident by Military Police Criminal Investigation Division," the military said on Wednesday.

The military also published reviews into four other high-profile incidents in Gaza, saying it was launching a criminal probe into the 2025 killing of 15 Palestinian medics and humanitarian personnel.

Hind Rajab had made the emergency call after her family's car came under fire during an attempt to flee Gaza City amid an Israeli advance.

Her body was eventually recovered along with those of six relatives and two Red Crescent rescuers sent to find her.

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

- Firing at vehicle -

The Israeli military said its findings indicated troops had "fired at a vehicle that was approaching them while travelling contrary to the advance notice" that had been given to residents in the area.

It said the initial fire killed five of the passengers, while Hind Rajab and her cousin Layan Hamada survived.

The military said movement of a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance had then been coordinated in order to evacuate the casualties.

"However, according to the allegations raised, upon the ambulance's arrival at the scene of the incident, a shell was fired toward it, resulting in the deaths of the two paramedics travelling in it," it added.

Israel's foreign ministry said the opening of the criminal investigation showed Israel to be a "law-abiding democracy" committed to the rule of law.

"Israel thoroughly investigates claims of misconduct, including amid the harrowing war against the jihadi organizations that seek its destruction," it said.

But the Hind Rajab Foundation, a Brussels-based legal organisation seeking to address alleged Israeli violations in Gaza, said it had "no confidence" in the Israeli military probe.

"These reported investigations, even if they do occur, should not be mistaken for a genuine step toward justice," it said in a statement.

- 'Deeply offensive' -

The military said criminal investigations would not be launched into three other incidents, involving the killing of seven employees from World Central Kitchen and four from Doctors Without Borders (MSF), both of which drew international scrutiny.

The founder of World Central Kitchen, Jose Andres, said on X that the decision was "wrong and is painful for all of us. There was no excuse for their attacks on our team."

The US-based charity called the decision "inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive" and demanded an independent commission to investigate.

The military said it had ordered a criminal probe into the killing of 15 Palestinian medics and humanitarian personnel in southern Gaza in March 2025, in another incident that sparked widespread outrage.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said at the time that a team of first responders was killed by Israeli forces on March 23, 2025 and that other emergency and aid teams were hit one after another over several hours while searching for their missing colleagues.

Those killed included eight Red Crescent staff, six members of the Gaza civil defence agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

The bodies were found buried near Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah in what OCHA described as a mass grave.

The military said Wednesday that 15 Palestinians were killed including medics and charged that six dead were identified as belonging to Hamas.

Troops then decided to "crush the vehicles and to cover the bodies with metal mesh", it said.

"Having found that the firing conducted during the incident raises a reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct, it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident," it added.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said at the time that the incident amounted to potential war crimes.

K.Im--SG