Arabic version: إسرائيل تفتح تحقيقاً جنائياً في مقتل هند رجب
According to Al Jazeera, the Israeli military has acknowledged firing at the civilian vehicle in which Palestinian child Hind Rajab was trapped in Gaza City on January 29, 2024, and has announced a criminal investigation. The move follows years of denial, international scrutiny and reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct.
Rajab and relatives were travelling in a black Kia as they attempted to follow Israeli evacuation orders from their Gaza City neighbourhood. Her mother, Wissam Hamada, had earlier left the area on foot. More than 300 bullets struck the vehicle, killing six relatives, including Rajab’s 15-year-old cousin Layan. Rajab, wounded and surrounded by the bodies, remained alive for hours while speaking with Palestine Red Crescent Society workers and her mother before dying at about 7:30pm.
A clearly marked ambulance was sent after COGAT, a branch of the Israeli military, gave explicit clearance for the rescue mission. The ambulance was then hit by a 120mm tank round, killing its two medics. Avaaz said about three hours elapsed between the shooting of the family and the ambulance attack, and said there was substantial evidence of a “double-tap” tactic targeting emergency responders. Israel said its troops had fired at an approaching vehicle and cited alleged failures in coordinating the ambulance’s movement.
An Al Jazeera documentary produced with the Hind Rajab Foundation, using satellite imagery and audio analysis alongside Forensic Architecture, identified Israeli Merkava tanks near the car and found no evidence of an armed exchange, the report said. On May 3, 2025, the foundation filed a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court targeting Lieutenant Colonel Beni Aharon. Rajab’s grandmother, Hind Hamada Rajab, rejected the internal Israeli inquiry and called for an independent international investigation. The foundation’s president, Dyab Abou Jahjah, also cited the record of Israel’s justice system, while Yesh Din researcher Dan Owen said only a “tiny percentage” of investigations had led to indictments over the past decade.
