Israel’s military has opened a criminal investigation into the killing of five-year-old Palestinian boy Hind Rajab after acknowledging for the first time that Israeli troops fired on the vehicle in which she and members of her family were trapped in Gaza City in January 2024.
The Hind Rajab investigation marks a significant change from the Israeli military’s earlier account of the incident. The Israel Defense Forces had previously said a preliminary review found its troops were not close to the vehicle or within firing range.
Reuters and the Associated Press reported on Wednesday that a subsequent military review established Israeli forces had fired at the car. The case has now been referred to the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division.
What happened to Hind Rajab?
Hind was travelling with relatives through the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City on 29 January 2024 as the family attempted to flee fighting.
Her cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamadeh, contacted the Palestine Red Crescent Society after the vehicle came under fire. Layan was heard telling emergency workers that a tank was close to the car before the call was interrupted by gunfire.
When rescuers called back, Hind answered.
The five-year-old remained trapped inside the vehicle surrounded by dead or dying relatives while Red Crescent workers tried to arrange her evacuation. Recordings of her calls, in which she repeatedly pleaded for someone to come and rescue her, subsequently spread around the world.
An ambulance carrying Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun was eventually sent towards the vehicle. Contact with the ambulance was lost.
Twelve days later, after Israeli forces withdrew from the area, Hind was found dead inside the car. The bodies of the two paramedics were discovered in their destroyed ambulance nearby.
Israeli military orders criminal investigation
According to the Israeli military, the decision to open a criminal case followed a review of the evidence and apparent failures surrounding coordination of the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance.
The investigation is one of two criminal probes announced by the military into high-profile incidents during the Gaza war. The second concerns the killing of 15 emergency and rescue workers in Rafah in March 2025.
The decision does not establish criminal responsibility. Investigators will now examine the conduct of military personnel involved and determine whether further legal action is warranted.
The acknowledgement is nevertheless important because it reverses a central element of Israel’s earlier explanation that its forces had not been positioned close enough to fire on Hind’s vehicle.
Hind’s younger brother Iyad survived
Behind the international investigation is a family that continues to live with Hind’s absence.
Hind had a younger brother named Iyad, who was three years old when his sister was killed. Hind’s mother, Wesam Hamada, has described the close relationship between the children, saying Hind cared deeply for her little brother.
Accounts of the family’s final evacuation show that Iyad had initially been due to travel in the same car as Hind but got out at the last moment to remain with his mother — a decision that spared him from being inside the vehicle when it came under fire.
Hind’s mother has since left Gaza, according to reporting published in 2026. Reliable sources reviewed by ParliamentNews.co.uk confirm Iyad is Hind’s younger brother, but we could not independently verify the claim that he currently lives with his grandfather in Gaza, so that detail has not been presented as established fact.
Case drew international scrutiny
Independent investigations had challenged Israel’s original account long before the latest military announcement.
The Washington Post used satellite imagery and other evidence to establish that Israeli armoured vehicles were operating in the area. Forensic Architecture later reconstructed the incident and concluded that an Israeli tank had likely fired hundreds of rounds towards the family’s car.
The case also became a powerful symbol of the civilian toll of the Gaza war. Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania subsequently made The Voice of Hind Rajab, using recordings connected to Hind’s final hours.
What happens next?
Israel’s Military Police Criminal Investigation Division will now examine the circumstances surrounding the shooting and the failed rescue operation.
Opening an investigation does not mean charges will follow, and no individual soldier has been found criminally responsible at this stage.
For Hind’s family, however, the latest development represents the first formal Israeli acknowledgement that its forces fired on the vehicle — more than two and a half years after the five-year-old’s calls for help drew international attention to her final hours.
