The Israeli military has officially announced the opening of criminal investigations into two high-profile incidents involving the deaths of civilians in Gaza. The probes will examine the January 2024 killing of Hind Rajab, a young Palestinian girl who tragically died after waiting hours for rescue while trapped in a car, as well as the March 2025 deaths of 15 emergency and aid workers. These decisions were reportedly reached following initial reviews by the military’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which has also cleared soldiers of criminal wrongdoing in the high-profile April 2024 strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers.

Despite these new investigative steps, human rights organizations remain deeply skeptical, noting that military-led internal probes into the actions of its own forces historically result in very few indictments or meaningful consequences. Advocacy groups like Yesh Din have criticized the process, arguing that even in rare instances where wrongdoing is acknowledged, the resulting disciplinary actions are often lenient and fail to reflect the severity of the loss. For many observers, the military's assertion that it is upholding international law through these reviews does little to overshadow the recurring pattern of impunity frequently cited by critics of the ongoing conflict.