Israeli military launches criminal probes into killings of Hind Rajab and Palestinian paramedics

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military on Wednesday announced its first criminal investigations into troop conduct in the war in Gaza, focusing on the killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family and of 15 Palestinian paramedics.

The military said it would not launch criminal investigations into three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders. Its statement said it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct in Gaza and made decisions on the five cases.

The military statement did not mention the many other high-profile killings that Israel has pledged to investigate throughout the war, such as the Israeli strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza that killed five journalists in August 2025, including Mariam Dagga, a visual journalist who freelanced for The Associated Press and other news organizations.

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Both the killing of Rajab and her family, trapped in a vehicle and pleading for help by phone in February 2024, and the killing of 15 medics in May 2025 drew international outcry. Independent experts from the U.N. Human Rights Council have said Rajab's killing might constitute a war crime. Rights groups have filed war crimes complaints to the International Criminal Court and requests to indict soldiers they identified as involved in the killing.

Rajab's grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, told the AP by phone that the Israeli investigation is not enough, and called for an international probe into the killing of her granddaughter and all of the hundreds of children killed in Gaza during the war.

"An international investigation is required to uncover the truth and hold all those responsible accountable," she said. "We call for justice, not only for Hind, but for all Gaza children."

The military's statement comes nearly three years after the war began. Israeli strikes continue in Gaza despite a fragile ceasefire.

The military admitted to firing at the family car carrying Rajab, four of her cousins and her aunt and uncle as they fled an Israeli invasion of Gaza City.

As gunfire sprayed around them, Rajab's cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamada, called the Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic center, telling them that a tank was approaching and her family had been killed. Seconds later, more gunshots were heard, and Layan's screaming stopped, according to the Red Crescent recording of the call.

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Palestinian paramedics dispatched an ambulance to rescue Rajab, the sole survivor, and stayed on the line until contact was lost. Rajab, her five relatives and two medics from the ambulance were found dead 12 days later.

The military admitted Wednesday that troops had fired toward that ambulance, killing the two medics.

In the other killing, Israeli troops opened fire on the vehicles of the 15 paramedics as they drove in the southern city of Rafah. The military said one deputy commander had been directed to step down.