Israel confirms soldiers fired at car in which Hind Rajab was killed and opens criminal investigation
IDF Launches Criminal Probe Into Killing of Five-Year-Old Hind Rajab and Six Relatives
Ninoda.com – For the first time, the Israel Defense Forces has acknowledged that its soldiers discharged weapons at the vehicle in which Palestinian child Hind Rajab, aged five, was riding when she and six family members were killed in Gaza in 2024. In a formal statement released Wednesday, the IDF announced that its Military Police Criminal Investigation Division would open a criminal inquiry into the deaths.
The announcement also extended the scope of the probe to cover the deaths of 15 Palestinians — among them medics and a United Nations employee — who were killed in March 2025 when an IDF unit opened fire on ambulances, a fire engine, and a marked UN vehicle in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah, southern Gaza.
The Phone Call That Shook the World
Hind did not die instantly. After the initial strike, the small girl remained alive inside the wrecked car and answered a telephone call to operators at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). Over the course of several hours, she begged for rescue while describing tanks she could see directly ahead of the vehicle, advancing toward her position in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City.
"Hide under the seats," the operators told her. "Don't let anyone see you."
Operator Rana Faqih remained on the line with the child for hours while the Red Crescent team pressed the Israeli army to grant its ambulance access to the scene. Faqih recalled that the girl repeatedly implored someone to come save her.
"At one point, she told me it was getting dark," Rana told the BBC in February 2024. "She was scared. She asked me how far away my house was. I felt paralysed and helpless."
The Ambulance That Never Reached Its Destination
Approximately three hours after the call began, an ambulance was finally cleared to approach the area and was dispatched to extract Hind. After dark had fallen, crew members Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun radioed operators that they were nearing the location and awaited entry clearance from Israeli forces. That transmission was the last the operators ever received — from either the paramedics or the child they had been sent to save. The lines went silent permanently.
The PRCS subsequently confirmed that both men were killed when Israeli forces bombed the ambulance.
"The [Israeli] occupation deliberately targeted the Red Crescent crew despite obtaining prior coordination to allow the ambulance to arrive at the scene to rescue the child Hind," the organisation said in a statement.
Hind's body, along with those of her six relatives, was recovered days after the initial attack.
IDF Account Shifts
In its latest statement, the IDF said its examination "indicate[d] that IDF troops fired at a vehicle" that was "travelling contrary to the advanced notice that had been published in an announcement by the IDF Spokesperson to residents of the area." The military attributed the incident to "alleged failures in the co-ordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance."
That explanation marked a reversal. The IDF had initially claimed no troops were present in the area when Hind was killed — a position quickly challenged. The military later acknowledged it had "conducted raids on terror targets" with forces operating in neighbourhoods of Gaza City, including Tel al-Hawa, where the girl had been located.
The March 2025 Rafah Killings
The second prong of the investigation concerns an early-morning emergency call-out on 23 March 2025 in Tal al-Sultan, Rafah. An IDF unit fired on a convoy of ambulances, a fire engine, and a marked UN vehicle. Fifteen Palestinians were killed. Their bodies were discovered a week later, buried in shallow graves beside the crushed wreckage.
The military first described its troops as having fired on "suspicious vehicles" driving in darkness with headlights and emergency lights switched off. That account was later labelled "mistaken" after a video recovered from the mobile phone of slain paramedic Rifaat Radwan showed the convoy had its emergency lights activated.
Aftermath and International Response
Both incidents drew widespread international condemnation. Hind's desperate recording, broadcast globally, became the defining audio of the Gaza conflict. Her case was cited by the UN in a commission of inquiry that accused Israel of war crimes — an accusation Israel denies.
The story was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film The Voice of Hind Rajab, which received a record ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
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