The Israeli military has ordered a criminal investigation into the killing by its forces of 5-year-old Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl whose death in Gaza sparked international outrage after a recording of her final, heart-wrenching moments speaking to paramedics was heard around the world. In a statement Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces acknowledged for the first time that troops opened fire on the vehicle carrying Rajab's family in January 2024, having previously said no forces were in the area at the time. "Following review of the findings and due to alleged failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance, it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident," the IDF said.
The military said it was also ordering a criminal investigation into the March 2025 killing of 15 Gazans, including rescue workers. The investigations will be conducted by Israeli military police. Rajab, whose story was made into the award-winning 2025 docudrama "The Voice of Hind Rajab," was in a car with six family members when it came under Israeli fire in Gaza City.
Only Rajab and her cousin Layan survived the initial attack. Audio from her cousin's phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service captured 15-year-old Layan describing the chaotic scene around her, amid the sound of gunfire and screaming, before the call dropped. Rajab answered a return call, which lasted hours, telling the emergency operator at one point: "The tank is next to me," in Arabic.
Please come." Rajab's desperate pleas for rescue as night fell, telling the operator she was afraid of the dark, were cut off as gunfire again rang out and the call abruptly ended. Twelve days later, her body was recovered, along with those of two paramedics who had been sent to rescue her. The IDF said it would grant the ambulance safe passage, before forces at the scene opened fire, killing those inside, according to the military's statement on Wednesday.
A few weeks after the incident, CBS' 60 Minutes spoke with Palestinian Red Crescent workers at the emergency call center in Ramallah, 50 miles away, which handled the calls with Rajab and her cousin. "The story of Hind is not the only story. It's absolutely dozens of calls we're getting since the beginning of the war in Gaza, where we feel helpless," spokesperson Nebal Farsakh said.
As well as the Rajab case, the IDF also said it was opening a criminal probe into the killing of Palestinian medics, including a U.N. staffer, in Tel al-Sultan, Gaza, in March 2025. The IDF initially said its forces opened fire because the vehicles were "advancing suspiciously" without headlights or emergency signals, but walked back that account after cellphone video surfaced of the attack, showing Red Crescent and Gazan Civil Defense teams driving slowly with their emergency lights flashing and logos visible as they pulled up to help an ambulance that had come under fire earlier. In the clip, they do not appear to be acting in a threatening manner as three medics emerge and head toward the stricken ambulance.
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