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Ramadan Qdeih and his father, Muhammad Qdeih, spent the period from 21 to 25July 2014 gathered with sixty other people in the basement of Muhammad Qdeih’shome (see point 7 on the map).Many elderly people and people with chronic illnesses (diabetes mellitus, hypertension,renal failure) took refuge in the clinic of Dr. Kamal Qdeih (see point 4 on the map), a privatedoctor who remained in the town when other governmental health workers had fled.On the morning of 22 July 2014 the area came under heavy shelling and the doctorleft his home and moved to his clinic, which is adjacent to his home. He felt it wouldbe safer as it was a health clinic with protected status and due the presence of a largenumber (about 200) of patients and other civilians that had gathered there.3. Failed coordination of evacuation and attackon a mass civilian exodus, 22-23 July 2014On 22 July 2014 Dr. Qdeih contacted PRCS, the International Committee of the RedCross (ICRC) and the Gaza Ministry of Health to ask them to coordinate their safeevacuation from the town. However, according to him, ICRC’s attempts to coordinateevacuation failed. The Israeli army refused to assist with any arrangements and hewas told by the ICRC that the area was now a closed, active military zone and theycould not help. 7On 23 July 2014 at about 05:00 the bombing became more intense. The ICRC statedthat they could assist with evacuation in about two hours. After the two hours hadpassed he contacted the ICRC again. They stated that they were about one kilometerfrom Khuza’a (Abaha area) but that the Israeli army was refusing to allow them tomove any closer.That morning, many of the remaining people in the town made a collective decisionthat it would be safest to gather in a common area and leave the town as a largegroup, walking out together, holding white flags to signify that they were civilians.People contacted each other by phone and young men were sent to the homes wherepeople were sheltering, to inform them of this decision.According to Samia Abu Daka, who participated in the mass march, 500 people tookpart. Other testimonies put the number as high as 3000.They left the area of the clinic at 07:30, holding white bed-sheets, clothes tied tosticks, or any other white material including white plastic bags, and walked up themain road, which divides the town and leads westward towards the town of KhanYounis, calling ‘peaceful, peaceful.’ (The red line on the map marks their route.)The group neared some tanks and soldiers (see point 1 on the map). According to Dr.Kamal Qdeih, who was in the front line of the group with his wife, grandfather and7On the matter of failed evacuation see also Para 11 below, and more broadly under Part B, 3.1 ‘Attacks on emergency teams’above.82