Israel opens criminal probes into Hind Rajab, paramedic killings
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- Israel's military will open criminal investigations into the February 2024 killing of Hind Rajab, her relatives, and two medics, and the May 2025 killing of 15 Palestinian paramedics in Rafah.
- The military declined to investigate three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders, saying it had completed reviews of 150 incidents and made decisions on five cases.
- The military's statement did not mention the August 2025 Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza that killed five journalists, including Mariam Dagga, a visual journalist who freelanced for The Associated Press.
- Hind Rajab was the sole survivor after troops opened fire on her family's vehicle fleeing Gaza City; Red Crescent lost contact during rescue efforts and she was found dead 12 days later alongside seven relatives and two medics.
- Israeli troops fired on ambulances in Rafah with emergency lights flashing, then bulldozed the paramedics' bodies into a mass grave; the military initially claimed the vehicles were 'advancing suspiciously' but backtracked after phone footage surfaced.
- Gaza's Health Ministry says Israel's war has killed more than 73,000 people since October 7, 2023, including at least 1,273 since a fragile ceasefire took effect in October.
Why it matters: The military chose to investigate only two of the five cases it reviewed — declining probes into World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders aid worker deaths — signaling selective self-scrutiny. The silence on the August 2025 strike that killed AP freelancer Mariam Dagga, despite earlier pledges, points to a pattern of incomplete accountability in a war that has killed over 73,000 Palestinians.
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