IDF orders criminal investigation into death of Hind Rajab

However, both of their bodies, as well as those of Red Crescent paramedics dispatched to the scene, were found following Israeli withdrawal from the area the following month.

Radio messages between the paramedics and the Red Crescent dispatch handler from the day of the incident record the ambulance crew saying they had come under attack from an Israeli tank.

The IDF initially maintained that none of its troops were in the area at the time, but satellite images subsequently published by Sky News and the Washington Post indicated the presence of several Israeli tanks nearby.

The army said the new investigation was initiated “due to alleged failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance”.

But they also accepted for the first time that Israeli troops had fired on the vehicle, which they said “was approaching” soldiers at the time.

Meanwhile, in the same release, the IDF also confirmed the beginning of a criminal investigation into the killing of 15 emergency workers in Gaza in March 2025 after soldiers incorrectly identified their ambulances as a threat.

The army had initially stated that the first wave of vehicles had been suspicious, while it claimed that the convoy had approached the scene without emergency lights and its movements had not been coordinated with the military.

However, footage recovered from the mobile phone of one of the medics killed, which has been verified by a number of news outlets, appeared to contradict this account. The clip showed the ambulances clearly marked and with their lights on as they came under fire.

It later admitted that “professional failures” and a “chain of mistakes” had led to the incident, but said there had been no “ethical gaps” in the soldiers’ conduct.