Gaza Herald — The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a Brussels-based legal rights organization, has formally submitted a criminal complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice, calling for the immediate arrest and investigation of an Israeli military officer currently on U.S. soil over his direct involvement in the killing of five-year-old Palestinian child Hind Rajab in Gaza City.
The organization, which pursues universal jurisdiction cases against Israeli soldiers and government officials traveling abroad, identified the officer by the initials S.G., naming him as a primary responsible commander in the deadly attack.
Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib strongly endorsed the legal complaint, demanding that federal law enforcement act swiftly under domestic and international law.
“The commander of the Israeli military unit likely responsible for killing 5-year-old Hind Rajab is currently in the United States,” Tlaib stated in a public appeal. “As a party to the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions, the U.S. government is obligated to arrest and investigate him for these war crimes and acts of genocide. I stand with the Hind Rajab Foundation in calling on the Justice Department to comply with the law and take action.”
Unit Command Linked to Tank Shelling of Family Vehicle and Medics
The complaint focuses on the tragic killing of Hind Rajab in early 2024, alongside six members of her family, including her uncle, aunt, and cousins, and two Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics, Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, who were dispatched in an officially coordinated ambulance attempt to rescue her.
According to HRF’s legal submission, S.G. served as a company commander in the Israeli military’s 52nd Armored Battalion of the 401st Brigade. Ground tracking and military mapping confirmed that the 52nd Battalion was the sole armored unit operating in the immediate vicinity in Tel al-Hawa, with S.G.’s tank company positioned just a few hundred meters from the civilian vehicle.
The foundation stated that comprehensive forensic analyses, geolocated satellite imagery, and material published by S.G. on his personal social media accounts indicate he issued the direct order to open heavy machine-gun and tank fire on the family car and the approaching, clearly marked ambulance.
Furthermore, the legal filing accuses S.G.’s unit of widespread war crimes across the Gaza Strip, including unlawful summary executions, torture, forced population displacement, and the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure without military necessity. The complaint cites the unit’s participation in assaults on Al-Shifa Hospital, UNRWA headquarters, the Zeitoun neighborhood, and the Rafah border crossing.
While the U.S. Department of Justice has not yet publicly responded to the submission, the Hind Rajab Foundation emphasized that federal authorities possess the legal mandate under war crimes statutes to detain foreign combatants accused of grave breaches of international law present within U.S. jurisdiction.
