Israeli army launches criminal probe into killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza

Israel's military will open internal investigations over its troops' high-profile killings in Gaza ​of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in January 2024 and 15 emergency and aid workers in March 2025, it said on Wednesday, although rights groups said such probes rarely lead to convictions. Hind's body was recovered from a car riddled with bullets in Gaza City days after she was last heard from in a desperate, hours-long phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent on January 29, 2024. "Following review of the findings and due to alleged failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance, it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident by Military Police Criminal Investigation Division," the military said on Wednesday. Israeli rights groups say that criminal misconduct investigations into Israeli troops over the killing of Palestinians rarely lead to convictions. Dan Owen, a researcher in the Yesh Din rights organisation, said that over the last decade only a "tiny" proportion of investigations ‌had led to indictments while growing political pressure "further deters Israeli law-enforcement authorities from holding thos...