The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it would open criminal investigations into the killing of Palestinians by troops in two high-profile cases during the Gaza war, including the deaths of Hind Rajab, a 5-year-old girl, and of more than a dozen medical workers.
The decision to transfer the cases for criminal investigations followed a lengthy review into dozens of contentious incidents during the war by a military fact-finding mission. The reviews came after widespread international condemnation of Israel’s conduct during the conflict, with several rights groups and governments accusing the country of committing war crimes.
One of the cases referred for criminal investigation involved the deaths of Hind Rajab and six members of her family, who were killed in a car in Gaza City in January 2024. That case also included the shelling of a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance that had tried to approach the vehicle, an attack that caused the deaths of two paramedics.
The second case involved the fatal shooting in March 2025 of 14 Palestinian medics and rescue workers in southern Gaza, as well as that of a U.N. employee who drove by after the others had been shot.
Such military police investigations have rarely led to convictions. Rights groups have previously criticized the military’s internal investigations of its conduct in wars, describing the process as a whitewash.
The military said that it had found no grounds for criminal investigation in three other cases, including the killing of seven employees of World Central Kitchen, a relief group, in April 2024, as they were transporting humanitarian aid to a warehouse.
World Central Kitchen rejected the military’s account and condemned its decision not to refer the case for criminal investigation, saying its actions were wholly unjustified.
The military also declined to open a criminal investigation into a deadly strike on a building occupied by Doctors Without Borders in February 2024 or into the killing of two of the medical organization’s employees who were traveling in a convoy in Gaza City in November 2023.
Doctors Without Borders has not yet issued a comment.
More than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war almost three years ago, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but includes thousands of children.
Israel waged the devastating war after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Oct. 7 attack killed about 1,200 people, according to the Israeli authorities, and about 250 more were taken as hostages to Gaza.
Israel has continued to carry out what it says are targeted killings almost a year after a cease-fire with Hamas took effect. On Wednesday, officials in Gaza said that nine people were killed in an Israeli strike on a police headquarters in Gaza City. Hamas said that most of the dead were police officers and personnel. The Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza said the victims included a displaced 13-year-old child who was living near the police headquarters.
The Israeli military said it was targeting a Hamas commander who planned to attack Israeli troops operating in Gaza. It added that another Hamas commander was struck in a different part of the territory.
The Israeli military said that its fact-finding mission into conduct during the war had completed reviews of about 150 incidents, adding that the examining body was made up of professionals operating outside the military’s regular chain of command.
The case involving Hind stirred international outrage. A feature film about the killing, “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” helped make her one of the most visible victims of the war.
Hind had survived the initial shooting and was trapped in the car with her dead relatives, only to be found dead, along with the two paramedics who had set out to rescue her, nearly two weeks later. Many people around the world had followed the desperate efforts to discover her fate after the Red Crescent reported that one of its workers had spoken with her by phone following the initial attack.
The Red Crescent subsequently issued a series of harrowing posts after the rescuers went missing. The search for them was hampered by the presence of Israeli forces in the area.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that its troops fired at a vehicle that was “approaching them while traveling contrary to the advanced notice” that had been given to residents of the area.
Five of the vehicle’s seven passengers were killed and two — Hind and her cousin, Layan Hamad — survived, the review found. Both girls initially spoke to local rescuers by phone shortly after the car came under attack, then Hind talked to them alone, the military said.
A Red Crescent ambulance was dispatched after its movement was coordinated with the Israeli forces. The ambulance, however, was shelled as it arrived at the scene. The military did not explain why other than to cite “apparent failures” in the coordination process.
The fatal shooting of 14 Palestinian medics and rescue workers that was also referred to criminal investigators was previously found to have involved Israeli military errors.
A preliminary military investigation released less than a month after the attack identified “several professional failures” in the soldiers’ conduct, as well as “breaches of orders and a failure to fully report the incident.” The military said that a deputy commander had been removed from his position.
At the time, the military had offered shifting explanations for why its troops fired on the convoy of emergency vehicles, including ambulances and a fire truck. Experts said the attack was a war crime.
In April 2025, the military said that the shootings were caused by “an operational misunderstanding” by troops on the ground “who believed they faced a tangible threat from enemy forces.” However, grainy surveillance footage appeared to show occupants of the rescue vehicles disembarking and running away from the troops rather than toward them.
The announcement on Wednesday offered no new details about that case and said none would be provided pending the criminal investigation.
In the World Central Kitchen case, the military said its troops fired on one of the group’s humanitarian aid convoys after identifying a gunman on a truck and mistakenly assuming that Hamas militants had seized control of the vehicles. After an initial examination, two officers were removed from their positions and three commanders received formal reprimands.
The military said its lengthier review found that the group had hired an armed security force to accompany and protect the convoy but had not coordinated their presence with the military authorities. The military also said the vehicles deviated from the route that the organization had set in coordination with the Israeli armed forces.
World Central Kitchen rejected the military’s account and the decision to drop the case. “There has never been any excuse or justification for the attacks and there is nothing in this account that does so,” the group said in a statement on social media. “The decision is inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive.”
World Central Kitchen added that the military knew of its team’s movements, identities and activities in advance, and demanded an independent investigation.
The military announced its decisions about the investigations just days after Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior aide, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in an effort to advance Mr. Trump’s plan for the future of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
The talks in Jerusalem took place after Mr. Netanyahu publicly rejected a recent deal for Hamas to turn over its weapons and for Israeli forces to halt their strikes in Gaza and to withdraw from the territory — a rare public break with Mr. Trump.
Natan Odenheimer and Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
