Military admission and criminal inquiry

More than two and a half years after the incident, the Israeli military announced on 19 August 2026 that it had opened a criminal investigation into the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab, six of her relatives, and two rescue workers. The army had previously denied having troops stationed in the Tel al-Hawa area of Gaza City on 29 January 2024, when the family car came under fire. Following an internal review, military officials acknowledged that Israeli soldiers shot at the vehicle because it was travelling contrary to evacuation directives issued to residents. The probe, conducted by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division, also addresses the strike on a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance sent to rescue the child. Military officials stated that a shell hit the rescue vehicle upon its arrival, killing both paramedics inside despite prior coordination.

The emergency call from Tel al-Hawa

The incident began on 29 January 2024 as Hind and six family members attempted to flee northern Gaza in a black Kia Picanto. Gunfire from Israeli troops killed five occupants immediately, leaving Hind and her fifteen-year-old cousin, Layan Hamada, injured and trapped in the vehicle. Layan dialed emergency services at the Palestine Red Crescent Society, reporting that Israeli tanks had surrounded their car before a second barrage killed her mid-call. Dispatcher Rana Faqih kept Hind on the phone for approximately three hours, connecting the child's mother, Wissam, and reciting verses from the Quran together.

“The voice of Hind will continue to resonate until justice is done.”

The connection was severed after Hind reported seeing the rescue vehicle approach in the distance, followed by an explosion.

Independent investigations and Venice recognition

Twelve days elapsed before medical teams could access the site after Israeli forces pulled back from the neighborhood, finding the decomposed bodies inside the wreckage. A reconstruction conducted by Forensic Architecture, Earshot, and Al Jazeera documented 335 bullet holes across the vehicle and determined that an Israeli tank fired from a range of 13 to 23 meters. The audio recordings of the emergency phone call later formed the centerpiece of the docudrama "The Voice of Hind Rajab", directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania. The film earned the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and received an Academy Award nomination.

Scope of military probes and legal scrutiny

The announcement coincided with the release of military review findings covering four other operations in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military opened a second criminal investigation into a March 2025 operation that killed 15 Palestinians, including emergency responders, humanitarian personnel, and a United Nations worker. In that case, the military prosecutor found troops fired in three separate episodes at emergency vehicles during an ambush, though a colonel received a formal censure and a deputy battalion commander was dismissed. Hind's grandmother publicly rejected the internal Israeli inquiry, calling on international courts to take up the case as human rights organizations observed that Israeli military investigations rarely lead to criminal convictions.