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advising him that he had ‘five minutes to get out.’ He responded that he was notat home, but at work in the hospital, and did not have time to go back and ensurethat his family was safe; however, the voice reiterated that he had 5 minutes andhung up. He managed to warn his wife and children; and, a few minutes later, hishouse was completely destroyed. Fortunately, no one was injured.• As a further example of the panic caused by warnings, the same Head Nurserecounted the case of the mayor of the Gaza City municipality, Nizar Hijazi,whose extended family lived on A-Shoda Street in Remal, Gaza City. By chance,he was in the area and saw the women of the family ‘running for their lives’ fromtheir home, after receiving a warning late at night. They were wearing pyjamas,trying to get dressed and cover their heads with hijabs or prayer shawls. Themembers of the family were coming out of the house ‘in total shock, crawling,screaming, and sobbing.’ Two or three hours later the house was destroyed.3. Attacks on medical personnel and medical facilitiesIn situations of armed conflict, medical personnel, units and transports are affordedspecific protection under the provisions of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).Under these provisions, medical personnel, units and transports must be respectedand protected, and must never be the object of attack. 67 All vehicles marked withdistinctive medical signs, including ICRC, PRCS, and others, should be protected,with every effort made to secure safe evacuation. During their visits, the FFMteams were informed repeatedly that ambulance insignia, as well as GIS maps ofall health care facilities (hospitals, long-term care centres and primary healthcareclinics) were given in advance to the Israeli military to avert any confusion about whatconstituted medical personnel and facilities, and to secure the respect of medicalneutrality. In practice, however, medical units and facilities were not protected and insome instances, as documented, they appear to have been hit as direct targets withpatients present.3.1 Attacks on emergency teamsAccording to the Health Cluster Report, 68 23 health workers died as a directconsequence of the conflict, of whom 16 were killed while on duty. A further 83 wereinjured, the majority of whom were ambulance drivers for the various pre-hospitalemergency service providers (MoH, PRCS, Palestinian Medical Military ServicesPMMS, Civil Defence and NGOs). According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health,as cited in the same report, an ambulance station and a total of 45 ambulanceswere damaged or destroyed either as consequence of direct attacks or as collateral67Additional Protocol I, Art 15; Additional Protocol II, Arts 9, 11.68Health Cluster Report pp10, 13.44