The IDF has for the first time admitted its forces fired on the vehicle carrying 5-year-old Hind Rajab and has opened a criminal investigation into her January 2024 killing. Rajab survived initial shots and begged rescuers by phone before her body was found 12 days later in a car riddled with bullets. The case is part of a broader IDF review of 150 incidents since October 2023; two cases have been referred for criminal probes while three high-profile attacks on aid workers were not.
IDF Acknowledges It Fired on Car Carrying 5-Year-Old Hind Rajab, Opens Criminal Investigation
A destroyed car where the body of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who begged Gaza rescuers to send help after being trapped by Israeli military fire, was found along with her family. REUTERS/Stringer - Reuters
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged on Wednesday for the first time that its troops fired on the vehicle carrying 5-year-old Hind Rajab in northern Gaza and said it has opened a criminal investigation into her January 2024 killing.
The admission reverses earlier IDF statements that its forces were not present near the vehicle or within firing range at the time of the attack. The army said the findings of a review indicated that "IDF troops fired at a vehicle that was approaching them," and that "the firing conducted during the incident raises a reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct." The Military Police Criminal Investigation Division has been tasked to investigate.
What Happened
Rajab was one of seven family members in a car that came under Israeli fire in January 2024. She initially survived the shooting and, according to published recordings, pleaded by phone for hours with Palestinian paramedics to be rescued. An ambulance later sent to reach her also came under fire. Twelve days after the attack, Rajab's body was recovered from a car riddled with bullets.
Broader IDF Review
This investigation is part of the IDF General Staff's Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which reviewed 150 incidents since the Gaza war began in October 2023 and forwarded them to the military advocate-general. On Wednesday the IDF published decisions in five cases. Two incidents have been referred for criminal investigations so far: the Rajab case and a March 2025 incident that killed 15 paramedics and first responders traveling in ambulances and emergency vehicles.
The IDF initially claimed the March 2025 convoy was traveling without headlights or emergency signals, a claim later contradicted by video showing the vehicles with flashing lights. The army has acknowledged "professional failures" in that incident but maintained there were "no ethical gaps."
Cases Not Referred For Criminal Inquiry
The military decided not to open criminal investigations into three other high-profile early-war attacks: the April 2024 killing of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) humanitarian workers in Deir El-Balah; a February 2024 strike on a Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) shelter in Khan Younis that killed two staff; and a November 2023 strike on an MSF convoy that killed two more employees.
In the WCK case the IDF said there were "serious failures" that led troops to believe the convoy had been taken over by armed militants, but the military advocate-general concluded there was no "reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct." WCK strongly condemned that decision, calling it "inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive."
Reactions And Calls For Accountability
Hind Rajab's mother, Wesam Hamada, called the IDF's decision to investigate a "long-overdue step," but said "justice has not yet begun," and urged an independent, transparent probe with accountability for all responsible. The Hind Rajab Foundation warned that Israeli investigations "overwhelmingly end without meaningful examination, prosecution, or punishment."
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour criticized previous Israeli investigations as "not independent and not credible," saying a credible inquiry should lead to arrests. Governments and humanitarian groups, including Australia and WCK, have publicly criticized the IDF's decisions and urged fuller accountability for the killings of aid workers.
Public Impact
Recordings of Rajab's pleas to paramedics captured international attention and intensified demands for accountability for her death and for the thousands of children killed in the conflict. A documentary about the incident, "The Voice of Hind Rajab," was later nominated for an Academy Award in 2026, further raising global awareness of the case.
IDF statement: "The findings of the examination indicate that IDF troops fired at a vehicle that was approaching them."
The IDF says it is continuing to review the remaining incidents referred to the military advocate-general. Families, humanitarian organizations and some foreign governments remain skeptical about the transparency and independence of internal military probes and continue to call for independent international scrutiny.
CNN reporters Hilary Whiteman and Hira Humayun contributed to reporting on this story.
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