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espected and protected by the parties to the conflict. 234 In addition, establishments ashore thatare entitled to the protection of the GWS shall be protected from bombardment or attack from thesea. 2357.10.1 Meaning of “Respect and Protection” of Military Medical Units and Facilities.The respect and protection accorded by the GWS to military medical units and facilities meanthat they must not knowingly be attacked, fired upon, or unnecessarily prevented fromdischarging their proper functions. 2367.10.1.1 Incidental Harm Not Prohibited. The incidental harm to medical units orfacilities, due to their presence among or in proximity to combatant elements actually engaged,by fire directed at the latter, gives no just cause for complaint. 237 Commanders are obligated tosituate medical units and facilities such that they are not in danger from attack against militaryobjectives. 238 Because medical units and facilities that are positioned near military objectives aredeemed to have accepted the risk of death or further injury due to proximity to militaryoperations, they need not be considered as incidental harm in assessing proportionality inconducting attacks. 2397.10.1.2 Search Not Prohibited. Military medical units and facilities are notimmune from search by the enemy. 240 For example, search may be necessary to verify that theseunits and facilities are not being used, outside their humanitarian duties, to commit acts harmfulto the enemy.234 GWS art. 19 (“Fixed establishments and mobile medical units of the Medical Service may in no circumstances beattacked, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.”).235 GWS-SEA art. 23 (“Establishments ashore entitled to protection of the Geneva Convention for the Ameliorationof the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of August 12, 1949, shall be protected frombombardment or attack from the sea.”).236 Refer to § 7.8.2 (Meaning of “Respect and Protection” of Medical and Religious Personnel).237 Compare § 7.12.2.5 (Acceptance of the Risk From Proximity to Combat Operations). For example, Col. RobertD. Heinl, Jr., Military Writer Charges: Reds Dupe Doves On Hanoi Hospital, THE PITTSBURGH PRESS, Jan. 10,1973 (“Bach Mai Hospital, outside Hanoi, appears to have replaced North Vietnam’s inconveniently intact dikesystems as Exhibit A in the Communist propaganda campaign to convict the United States of war crimes, atrocitiesand what is called ‘terror bombing.’ Bach Mai, or what is left of it, has been regularly shown to visiting Americanantiwar activists as evidence that we are singling out hospitals, orphanages and similar illegal targets in the air waragainst Hanoi. … Examination of current aerial photographs shows the hospital to be sited by the Communists in thevery bull’s-eye of a ring of military targets. … Besides being virtually astride the Communists’ main logistic arteryfor support of the war, the damaged hospital lies just across the road from Bach Mai Airfield, one of NorthVietnam’s most important military airdromes. Within a few hundred yards of Bach Mai Hospital, theCommunists maintain their main command center for the air defense of the North.”).238 Refer to § 7.10.2 (Obligation to Situate Military Medical Units and Facilities Relative to Military Objectives).239 Refer to § 5.12.3.2 (Harm to Certain Individuals Who May Be Employed In or On Military Objectives).Compare § 7.12.2.5 (Acceptance of the Risk From Proximity to Combat Operations).240 1956 FM 27-10 (Change No. 1 1976) 221 (“GWS does not confer immunity from search by the enemy onmedical units, establishments, or transports.”).445

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