JERUSALEM, Aug. 19– The Israeli military said Wednesday that it would open criminal investigations into the killing of Palestinian child Hind Rajab in Gaza and a separate case in which troops killed 15 Palestinians, including medics and a UN employee.
The decisions followed reviews by the military’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which examines exceptional wartime incidents. About 150 cases have been reviewed since the war began in October 2023. On Wednesday, it released conclusions about five cases of killing of Palestinians.
Rajab was found dead with members of her family in Gaza City in early 2024, days after she was trapped in a car under Israeli fire and pleaded by telephone with emergency workers for help. Two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics sent to rescue her were also killed.
The military said its review found “failures” in coordinating the movement of the ambulance and that the case would be investigated by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division.
A separate criminal investigation will examine the killing of 15 Palestinians in Tel al-Sultan in southern Gaza in March 2025 after Israeli troops fired on ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle. The military said the shooting raised a “reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.”
The probe also examined the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in April 2024. The military said it found “no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct that would justify the opening of a criminal investigation.”
Separately, Israeli forces arrested at least 31 Palestinians on Wednesday during raids in various areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center and Palestinian Prisoners Club, two non-governmental organizations.
