After Years of Denial, Israel Finally Admits to Role in Killing of Hind Rajab

The Israeli military has finally admitted to having a role in the brutal killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab, after years of denial from U.S. and Israeli officials despite a mountain of evidence, and has announced a criminal investigation into the incident.

In a report on Wednesday, the military admitted that Israeli soldiers fired at the vehicle that was carrying Hind and six members of her family as it travelled north on January 29, 2024. It acknowledges that five of the passengers were killed “as a result of the fire.”

This admission comes after the military has denied, for years, that soldiers were in the area at the time of the killing — an assertion that was laundered by the U.S. State Department’s spokesperson Matthew Miller in 2024.

The Israeli military’s report continues to obfuscate the circumstances surrounding the subsequent killings of Hind’s 15-year-old cousin, Layan Hamada, and Hind, however.

The military does not directly say that it was responsible for their deaths, in spite of the evidence of Israel’s role in the killing and even the identification of those allegedly responsible. Nor does it acknowledge its role in the killings of the Palestinian Red Crescent medics who arrived to save them, merely saying that “a shell was fired toward” the ambulance that arrived on the scene, and that, later, their bodies and the bodies of Hind and Layan were found.

The military said that its internal police division will be conducting a criminal investigation into the incident, and that “no further details can be provided” on its findings at this time. Israel has a long history of claiming that it will be investigating its own military’s violence and claiming innocence.

Even the short report issued on the subject, however, is riddled with inconsistencies when compared to the findings of numerous international investigations.

The military claims that the vehicle was “travelling contrary to the advanced notice” by the Israeli military posted in the area. But Forensic Architecture’s investigation found that the notice was issued on social media after the family’s vehicle had already left their home, and that the notice instructed them to move south, which would not have been possible at the time.

The military also suggests that it coordinated with the Palestinian Red Crescent for “the purpose of evacuating the casualties” as Layan and Hind made their phone call to rescuers, an assertion that has been verified by other reports. However, it contradicts the Israeli military’s previous accounts of the incident. The military has formerly denied coordinating with the ambulance because it claims that their soldiers were not present in the area at all.

It was during that coordination that Hind pleaded with rescuers to save her. For hours, Hind was trapped in a car with her dead relatives, telling dispatchers of her terror and begging to see her mom. Forensic Architecture’s investigation found that an Israeli tank was just meters away from the car, meaning that there was a clear line of sight into the car when soldiers sprayed it with hundreds of bullets.

Hind, who would have been 8 years old today, has become an international symbol of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. A movie made about her phone call to the rescuers, The Voice of Hind Rajab, was nominated for best international film at the Oscars this year.

In its report on Wednesday, the Israel military also said that it would not be conducting a criminal investigation into the killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers in 2024, despite international outrage over that incident. At the time, the Biden White House said that U.S. action against the killing of international aid workers, including an American, was not necessary because Israel “has pledged to conduct a thorough investigation” into the killing.

The aid group condemned the military’s decision as “inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive” in a statement.

“At the time of the lethal attacks, the IDF knew that our team in Gaza was unarmed and posing a threat to nobody,” the group went on. “It had full visual clarity on our clearly marked humanitarian vehicles during the extended, multiple airstrikes. It knew our team’s movements, identities and activities in advance.”

“We continue to demand an independent commission to investigate the airstrikes because the IDF cannot credibly investigate its own conduct,” the group said.