Nearly three years into the war in Gaza, the Israeli military has finally announced criminal investigations into two of the most harrowing incidents of the conflict. The deaths of five-year-old Hind Rajab and the killing of 15 Palestinian paramedics have long been symbols of the civilian toll in Gaza. Now, after reviewing 150 incidents of troop conduct, the military is opening formal probes.
If you’ve followed this conflict closely, you know that headlines about "internal reviews" often go nowhere. It’s important to look at what this actually means—and what it purposefully leaves out.
A Late Reckoning
The case of Hind Rajab is etched into the collective memory of this war. In February 2024, the five-year-old was trapped in a car in Gaza City, surrounded by the bodies of her family members. For hours, she pleaded for help over the phone with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS). When paramedics were finally dispatched to save her, they were killed too. Their bodies, along with Hind’s, were discovered 12 days later.
For years, the military denied being in the area or firing on the vehicle. Today, the admission that troops did, in fact, fire at the car is a major shift. Yet, the timing is impossible to ignore. A criminal investigation opening 30 months after the fact raises hard questions about why it took so long to acknowledge what was documented by satellite imagery and eyewitness testimony almost immediately.
Then there is the case of the 15 paramedics killed in Rafah in March 2025. This wasn't a single strike. It was a sequence of events where emergency vehicles were targeted one after another. Witnesses and survivors described a scene where responders were fired upon while attempting to reach victims, only to have their ambulances destroyed. The military’s initial defense—that the vehicles were acting "suspiciously"—has been shredded by footage showing clearly marked emergency vehicles operating on coordinated routes.
The Accountability Gap
The military’s announcement covers these two cases but explicitly closes the door on others. It confirmed it will not pursue criminal investigations into three other high-profile attacks, including those that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.
When an institution investigates itself, skepticism is the only rational response. Historically, military justice systems in conflict zones are designed to protect the chain of command rather than deliver justice to victims. Critics have pointed out for years that "fact-finding mechanisms" are often used to delay public outrage until the news cycle moves on.
Consider the reality for those on the ground. Families like Hind Rajab’s are calling for international oversight because they’ve seen the pattern before. They know that a military police probe is a world away from an impartial, international inquiry. By narrowing the scope to just two cases, the military is attempting to quiet international outcry while maintaining a tight grip on the legal process.
What This Really Means for Gaza
You have to look at the math. The Health Ministry in Gaza reports over 73,000 deaths since the war began. These two criminal investigations represent a tiny fraction of the thousands of incidents that rights groups and international observers have flagged as potential war crimes.
By picking two high-profile, undeniable cases, the military isn't necessarily signaling a shift in policy. It’s managing a public relations crisis. If the goal were true accountability, the process would be transparent, independent, and broad enough to cover the systemic issues that led to these deaths. Instead, we have a closed-door process that keeps the narrative under military control.
If you’re looking for accountability, watch the International Criminal Court and independent human rights monitors. They don't have the same political incentives to look away. When an army investigates its own, it’s rarely looking for the truth; it’s looking for a way to say the matter is closed. Don't expect these probes to change the way operations are conducted on the ground tomorrow. Justice in this context is almost always a long, slow, and often hollow victory for the families left behind.
Stay skeptical of official statements that prioritize "coordination failures" over clear patterns of conduct. The facts on the ground have been clear for years. Now, we wait to see if these investigations ever produce a single conviction, or if they simply serve to check a box and allow the military to move on to the next headline.
