Israel admits killing five-year-old Hind Rajab but clears troops over aid worker deaths

Australia has summoned the Israeli ambassador over the decision not to investigate the deadly World Central Kitchen strike Israel has acknowledged that its troops killed Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl, and opened a criminal investigation into the incident.

At the same time, it has refused to pursue a probe into the death of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in a separate attack.

Both incidents occurred in 2024 and prompted international outrage over the conduct of Israeli forces, making them among the most notorious civilian casualties of the Gaza war.

The contrasting decisions have triggered outrage over Australian citizen Zomi Frankcom, who was among the seven slain aid workers.

Canberra summoned Israeli Ambassador Hillel Newman on Thursday, with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong demanding accountability.

The killing of Hind Rajab Five-year-old Hind Rajab was fleeing Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighborhood with relatives in January 2024 when their car came under heavy Israeli fire.

Independent investigators later found hundreds of bullet impacts and estimated that an Israeli tank had been only meters away and would have easily identified the car passengers as civilians.

Hind survived the initial attack and spent hours trapped inside the car alongside her dead relatives, pleading with Palestinian Red Crescent dispatchers by phone to rescue her.

An ambulance sent to reach her after coordinating its movement with the Israeli military was subsequently shelled, killing two paramedics.

Hind’s body and those of her relatives and emergency workers were recovered 12 days later, after Israeli forces withdrew from the area Israel’s response Despite initially denying that its forces were even in the area where Hind was killed, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that its troops had indeed fired on the car carrying the girl and her relatives.

It also admitted that a shell was later fired at the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance sent to rescue her.

Read more Why Israel keeps striking Gaza despite US-brokered ceasefire The IDF said the findings and alleged failures surrounding coordination with the ambulance warranted a criminal investigation.

In the WCK case, however, the military stated that despite “serious failures” in the attack, commanders’ actions did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct and no criminal investigation would be opened.

Israel claimed its troops had mistakenly believed a Hamas fighter was traveling with the convoy and claimed it had deviated from an agreed route.