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The Israeli military said in a statement that a review of the incident found alleged failures in coordinating the movement of a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance dispatched to the area where Rajab’s family came under fire. Troops fired on the vehicle after it approached contrary to prior notices, the military added, marking the first time it acknowledged soldiers were present despite earlier denials. The military police criminal investigation division will now examine the matter as part of broader reviews released the same day into several high-profile Gaza incidents.
Hind Rajab’s grandmother, who shares the same name, told AFP the family was surprised by the military’s statement but saw no reason to trust the process that followed. “We were surprised by the statement issued by the Israeli army,” she said. “But for us this is not an admission but rather an attempt by the Israeli army to justify to the world how it committed the crime and how they executed Hind.” The army is trying to justify its position to the world, claiming that what happened was a mistake and that the soldiers who committed it will be prosecuted, the grandmother added according to AFP.
The grandmother told AFP the family has no faith in Israel’s justice system because it has committed numerous crimes, and the acknowledgment of this case came only because it was documented while many others in Gaza were not. She spoke while seated beside a collection of her granddaughter’s toys and photographs in the family’s home in Gaza City. AFP reported that the grandmother called on countries witnessing daily crimes by the occupation to stand with the Palestinian and Gazan people.
Rajab made a harrowing emergency call to the Palestinian Red Crescent on January 29, 2024 after her family’s car came under fire as they tried to flee Gaza City during an Israeli advance. Her body was recovered days later along with those of six relatives from the bullet-riddled car and two paramedics killed in an ambulance sent to assist them. Recordings of her final pleas were later incorporated into the Oscar-nominated film “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” according to multiple accounts of the case.
The military also announced a criminal probe into the 2025 killing of 15 Palestinian medics and humanitarian personnel but decided against investigations into the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen employees and four from Doctors Without Borders, France 24 reported. Rights groups have stated that such internal probes rarely lead to convictions. Yesh Din researcher Dan Owen told France 24 that only a tiny proportion of such cases over the past decade have resulted in indictments amid political pressures that deter accountability.
Gaza’s health ministry has reported more than 73,000 Palestinian deaths in the conflict since October 2023 with figures the United Nations considers generally reliable. Despite a ceasefire that took effect in October 2025 Israeli forces control more than 60 percent of the territory and more than 1,200 additional deaths have occurred since then according to the health ministry as cited by NPR. The grandmother told AFP the family demands justice not only for Hind’s case but also for the children of Gaza whose rights are violated whose right to life is lost and who are the most targeted group in Gaza.
