Israel has rejected allegations that its forces deliberately targeted humanitarian workers and medical personnel in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the Israeli military announced that following the investigation of numerous incidents, criminal investigations have been initiated in two particularly controversial cases.
According to the Israeli military, an IDF General Staff fact-finding body has reviewed approximately 150 exceptional incidents since the start of the war and submitted its findings to the military prosecutor. On Wednesday, decisions were announced in five cases in which humanitarian workers, medical personnel, or civilians lost their lives.
One of the cases concerns the death of five-year-old Hind Rajab and several family members in January 2024 in Gaza City. The girl was with relatives in a vehicle when it came under fire. Two paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent, who had been dispatched in an ambulance to rescue the girl, also lost their lives.
According to the now-published IDF investigation, Israeli soldiers opened fire on the vehicle as it approached the troops in violation of a previously issued IDF directive for residents of the area. Due to possible errors in the coordination of the ambulance, the military prosecutor ordered a criminal investigation by the military police. No decision has yet been made regarding the possible criminal responsibility of individual soldiers or officers.
A second criminal investigation concerns an incident on March 23, 2025, in Tel al-Sultan in the southern Gaza Strip. Fifteen Palestinians were killed, including medical personnel and a UN employee. Israeli soldiers had opened fire on several rescue vehicles.
An army investigation found that the soldiers had initially fired on a vehicle identified as a Hamas vehicle as part of an ambush against Hamas terrorists. Fire was subsequently opened on additional vehicles, which included a fire truck, ambulances, and a Palestinian UN vehicle. According to the IDF, six of the 15 killed were identified as Hamas terrorists.
The military prosecutor has now concluded that the attack gives rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct and must be further investigated.
The decision was different in the case of the seven employees of the aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK), who were killed on April 1, 2024, in Israeli airstrikes on their vehicles in the Gaza Strip.
According to the findings of the Israeli investigation, the troops had initially identified an armed individual on a truck in the aid convoy. Additional individuals were later mistakenly also classified as armed. The IDF subsequently concluded that Hamas terrorists had taken control of the convoy and that terrorists were present in the vehicles.
The military prosecutor has now decided that the commanders’ decisions at the time, despite serious errors, did not give rise to a sufficient suspicion of criminal conduct. A criminal investigation was therefore not opened. Following the original investigation into the incident, two officers had already been removed from their posts and three other senior officers had received disciplinary reprimands.
Two incidents involving Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) staff from 2023 and 2024 have also not led to criminal investigations following review. In one case, two staff members were killed in Khan Yunis after Israeli soldiers fired on a building they had assessed as a military target based on the circumstances at the time. In another case, two staff members were killed after a vehicle convoy deviated from a previously coordinated route on its way back to Gaza City. According to the IDF review findings, there is insufficient suspicion of criminal conduct in both cases to justify initiating a criminal investigation.
The announcement of the investigation results came on World Humanitarian Day. The United Nations used the occasion to once again draw attention to the dangers faced by humanitarian workers in international conflicts. UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that more than 1,000 humanitarian workers had been killed worldwide over the past three years. Attacks on humanitarian personnel are prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Israel, however, rejects the accusation of deliberately targeting humanitarian workers in the Gaza Strip. The decisions now published also show that Israeli military justice distinguishes between operational errors and possible criminal misconduct. While it found insufficient grounds for criminal proceedings in three of the five cases examined, the events surrounding Hind Rajab and the deaths of the rescue workers in Tel al-Sultan are now being investigated criminally by the military police.
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