Israeli military admits firing on Hind Rajab's car and opens a criminal investigation

The Israeli military has acknowledged for the first time that it opened fire on the car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza City, and has ordered a criminal investigation into her death. A second criminal investigation has been opened into the killing of 15 Palestinian paramedics.

The admission reverses the military's earlier position. Months after the January 2024 incident, a preliminary investigation had concluded that its forces were 'not present near the vehicle or within firing range' — a finding that is now superseded by Wednesday's statement.

At a glance

• The Israeli military acknowledged on 19 August that it fired on the vehicle carrying Hind Rajab
• Criminal investigations opened into two incidents: her killing and that of 15 Palestinian paramedics
• The car came under fire in Gaza City in January 2024 with seven family members inside
• She initially survived; her body was recovered days later with relatives and two paramedics who had tried to reach her
• The military had previously said its forces were 'not present near the vehicle or within firing range'

What is established about the case

Hind Rajab was one of seven family members travelling in a vehicle that came under fire in Gaza City in January 2024. She initially survived the attack, which killed several of her relatives.

Her body was recovered days later, alongside those of her family members and two paramedics who had been dispatched in an ambulance to try to reach her. The case drew international attention because a recording of the child speaking to emergency dispatchers while trapped in the car was broadcast around the world.

Why the reversal matters

Militaries rarely revisit their own preliminary findings in public. The move from 'not present near the vehicle' to an acknowledgement of firing on it, accompanied by a criminal investigation, is a substantive change in the official account rather than a procedural update.

It also changes the legal character of the case. A preliminary inquiry is an internal fact-finding exercise; a criminal investigation is conducted with the possibility of prosecution in view, and is carried out by a different arm of the military justice system.

The paramedics investigation

The second investigation concerns the killing of 15 Palestinian paramedics, a case that has been the subject of sustained scrutiny from humanitarian organisations. Medical personnel and ambulances hold specific protections under international humanitarian law.

Opening both investigations on the same day suggests a deliberate decision to address two of the most internationally documented incidents of the war together, rather than in isolation.

The call for an international inquiry

Hind Rajab's grandmother, who shares her name, told the Associated Press that the Israeli investigation is not enough. She called for an international investigation into her granddaughter's killing and into the deaths of the hundreds of children killed in Gaza during the war, saying an international inquiry is required to uncover the truth and hold those responsible accountable.

That position reflects a wider argument about self-investigation. Under the principle of complementarity, international courts defer to national proceedings only where those proceedings are genuine — which makes the credibility and independence of these investigations the central question.

What happens next

Military criminal investigations of this kind typically take months and do not guarantee charges. The measurable outcomes to watch are whether individual suspects are identified, whether findings are published rather than summarised, and whether any prosecution follows.

Human rights organisations and the family will continue to press for an independent international process. For now, the significant development is narrower but real: an official acknowledgement, on the record, that contradicts what the military said before.