The Israeli military has admitted, more than two years later, to opening fire on a vehicle carrying a 5-year-old girl in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that an internal investigation confirmed its troops had fired on the vehicle.

Consequently, the Israeli military has decided to launch a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the girl, seven of her relatives, and two paramedics who were killed after being dispatched to rescue them.

The shooting incident occurred in January 2024.

The 5-year-old girl, Hind Rajab, came under attack by the Israeli military while traveling by car with her relatives in Gaza City.

Rajab, who was the sole survivor inside the vehicle, called for rescue through a phone connected to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Although the Red Crescent dispatched an ambulance to the scene after prior coordination with the Israeli military, the ambulance also came under Israeli attack, killing the paramedics.

Rajab's body was discovered days later alongside the bodies of her family members.

Immediately following the incident, the Israeli military stated that its troops were not present in the area. However, international controversy grew after a recording of a phone call was released in which Rajab stated that Israeli tanks were at the scene.

The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry raised allegations of Israeli war crimes, citing the death of Rajab's family as one of the grounds.

This incident was made into a docudrama film titled 'The Voice of Hind', which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival last year.

Additionally, the Israeli military has decided to launch a criminal investigation into an incident in March last year in Rafah, southern Gaza, where 15 Palestinians, including medical staff and UN workers, were killed.

At the time, the Israeli military opened fire on an ambulance, a fire truck, and a UN vehicle that were responding to an emergency.

The Israeli military initially claimed that the vehicles had approached at night with their headlights and hazard lights turned off, but after a video showing the vehicles with their hazard lights on was recovered from a deceased paramedic's mobile phone, it acknowledged that its previous explanation was incorrect.

Explaining the decision to launch a criminal investigation, the Israeli military stated, "We have determined that there is a reasonable basis to suspect that criminal acts were involved in the shooting at the time."

(Photo: Yonhap News)