Israel’s military has ordered criminal investigations into two high-profile incidents in Gaza: the killing of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab and her relatives in January 2024, and the deaths of 15 Palestinian emergency and aid workers in Rafah in March 2025.
The decision, announced Wednesday, August 19, 2026, follows a review of about 150 exceptional operational incidents by the Israel Defense Forces’ Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism. Military prosecutors ultimately selected five cases for decisions, with criminal investigations ordered in two.
The move puts renewed scrutiny on the circumstances surrounding Rajab’s death, a case that drew international attention after recordings emerged of the child pleading with Palestinian Red Crescent emergency workers for help while trapped inside a vehicle surrounded by the bodies of her relatives.
Hind Rajab’s final hours
Rajab and members of her family were attempting to flee Gaza City on January 29, 2024, when their vehicle came under fire.
Her cousin Layan Hamada, who was also initially alive, contacted the Palestinian Red Crescent. During the call, Layan described the danger around the vehicle before the connection ended.
Rajab remained trapped in the vehicle and later spoke directly with emergency workers for hours, asking them to send help.
The Palestinian Red Crescent attempted to coordinate an ambulance to reach her. When rescuers eventually arrived in the area, communications were lost.
Twelve days later, Rajab, her relatives and two Red Crescent paramedics — Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun — were found dead. The Washington Post’s earlier investigation found Israeli armored vehicles in the vicinity of the family’s car, challenging an initial Israeli military claim that its forces were not nearby.
Forensic Architecture subsequently reconstructed the incident using audio, visual and geospatial evidence and concluded that an Israeli tank likely fired hundreds of rounds at the family’s vehicle and that an Israeli tank likely attacked the ambulance sent to rescue Rajab. Those findings were independent investigations, not a judicial determination of criminal responsibility.
What Israel is investigating now
The new criminal investigation does not itself establish who is legally responsible for Rajab’s death.
According to reporting on the military’s latest decision, the IDF’s review found apparent failures surrounding the coordination of the ambulance sent to rescue Rajab. The case has now been referred for a criminal investigation, meaning military investigators will examine whether conduct by soldiers or commanders may have violated Israeli law or military regulations.
The investigation is significant because previous military statements had disputed the presence or involvement of Israeli forces in the area.
The Washington Post reported in 2024 that satellite imagery placed Israeli armored vehicles near the location where Rajab and her relatives were killed. The U.S. State Department subsequently said it would seek additional information from Israel and called for a full investigation.
A second investigation: 15 Palestinian rescue workers
The second criminal investigation concerns the deaths of 15 Palestinian emergency and aid workers in the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah in March 2025.
The workers were traveling in emergency vehicles when Israeli forces opened fire. The incident initially triggered conflicting accounts over what happened and why the vehicles were targeted.
Video evidence later showed emergency vehicles displaying markings and using lights, undermining the initial Israeli military explanation that the vehicles had been moving suspiciously without headlights or emergency signals. The bodies and damaged vehicles were subsequently recovered from a mass grave.
The IDF later acknowledged serious failures surrounding the incident and disciplinary action was taken against military commanders. The new decision now moves the matter into a criminal investigation.
Not every Gaza case will face a criminal probe
The announcement is also notable for what Israel’s military decided not to investigate criminally.
Military prosecutors reviewed the April 2024 killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers but concluded there was no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct warranting a criminal investigation, according to Reuters.
The military also declined to launch criminal investigations into two incidents involving Doctors Without Borders personnel.
That distinction has drawn criticism from Israeli rights organizations, which argue that criminal investigations into alleged misconduct by Israeli soldiers rarely result in indictments or serious punishment.
Why the Hind Rajab case still matters
Rajab’s death became one of the most internationally recognizable cases involving civilian casualties in the Gaza war because the evidence includes a lengthy emergency call capturing her fear and repeated requests for rescue.
The case has also generated investigations outside Israel.
The Washington Post examined satellite imagery and other evidence. Forensic Architecture conducted its own reconstruction. Human rights advocates have repeatedly called for accountability, while organizations including the Hind Rajab Foundation have pursued international legal action.
The latest Israeli decision therefore does not close the case. It opens a new phase.
A criminal investigation will have to determine what happened, which personnel were involved, what orders were given, whether warnings or coordination procedures were followed, and whether anyone committed a criminal offense.
For the families of Hind Rajab and the Palestinian rescuers who tried to reach her, the question that has remained unresolved for years is now back before Israel’s military justice system:
Who knew what was happening — and why did the rescue fail?
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