Israel admits two years later that it shot Hind Rajab, the girl who begged for help surrounded by corpses

The Israeli Army has admitted for the first time that its troops opened fire on the car carrying Palestinian girl Hind Rajab and six family members on January 29, 2024, in Gaza City. Israel had previously claimed that its soldiers were not even near the location, a version that independent investigations debunked more than two years ago.

Hind was five years old and was fleeing with her family from the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood after a new Israeli displacement order. The initial shots killed five occupants of the vehicle. Her cousin Layan managed to call the Palestinian Red Crescent before dying while still on the phone, after warning that a tank was next to them. Hind was left alone among the bodies and spent hours begging for someone to come and get her. "I'm very scared, please, come," she pleaded during the call.

The Red Crescent managed to coordinate with the Israeli Army to send an ambulance to rescue her. Paramedics Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun advanced along the authorized route, but communication was lost when they were near the car. The bodies of Hind, her six family members, and the two paramedics were recovered twelve days later, when Israeli forces withdrew from the area.

Two years denying the presence of its troops

The version disseminated by Israel at the time maintained that its personnel were far from the vehicle and out of any firing range. The investigation by Forensic Architecture, based on images, recordings, and remains of the car, placed an Israeli tank between 13 and 23 meters away and estimated that 335 shots were fired at the car. Its experts also concluded that the military could distinguish the presence of civilians and children inside.

The statement now published acknowledges Israeli fire, although it attempts to justify it by pointing out that the vehicle was approaching the soldiers in the opposite direction of an evacuation route disseminated on social media. The Army does not indicate that any shots were fired from the car or that its occupants carried weapons. The criminal investigation focuses especially on the alleged coordination failures that also allowed the attack on the ambulance sent to save Hind.

The Israeli Military Police will take over an internal investigation that comes after years of international pressure. United Nations experts already warned in 2024 that the murder of Hind, her family, and the paramedics could constitute a war crime. Israeli human rights organizations have recalled that this type of military investigation rarely ends in convictions, even when there is evidence of serious abuses against Palestinian civilians.

Selective investigations during the genocide

Israel will also criminally investigate the death of 15 health, humanitarian, and United Nations workers shot in March 2025 near Rafah. Soldiers fired at ambulances, a fire truck, and a UN vehicle, all identified, and subsequently buried the bodies and destroyed vehicles. The initial Israeli version also changed after images appeared that contradicted the official account.

The Military Prosecutor's Office has, however, ruled out criminally investigating the bombing that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers, the organization of chef José Andrés, when they were traveling on a route communicated to the Army. Nor will they act against those responsible for two attacks in which four Doctors Without Borders employees died. Israel closes both cases alleging that it does not see reasonable suspicions of criminal conduct.

Hind's murder occurred during the genocide in Gaza, whose existence was established in September 2025 by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry. More than 73,000 Palestinians have died since October 2023, according to health authorities in the Strip, and at least 20,000 were children. Unicef has counted another 300 minors killed in the last 300 days, an average of one Palestinian child dead every day despite the ceasefire.