HHo0s

for Israeli armed forces while suffering threats of death, violence, constraints onmovement and restriction of basic necessities.The FFM teams conclude that the severe pain and suffering described above in thetestimony of Ramadan Qdeih, and his use as a human shield, engage the internationalhumanitarian law prohibition of human shields, and the prohibition of cruel and/orinhuman treatment, and outrages upon human dignity, as codified in common Article3 and the grave breaches regime of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. 30 The resultantpain and suffering also meets the definitions of torture in the Tokyo Declaration ofthe World Medical Association. 31In addition, regarding suspicions voiced above regarding use of evacuating medicalteams as human shields, if confirmed, such practices are likely to be a seriousviolation of IHL: Under no circumstances may medical units be used in an attempt toshield military objectives from attack. 32ConclusionThe incidents recorded at Khuza’a are in general indicative of several violationsof human rights and international humanitarian law, stemming from actionsand decisions by multiple levels of the chain of military command: from heavybombardments of civilian neighbourhoods, which must have entailed approval fromtop-level decision-makers, through denial of medical care and attacks on medicalevacuation, despite repeated coordination attempts and eye-contact between forceson the ground and the injured persons, to shooting of civilians at short and mediumrange by individual soldiers using light arms, and finally to abuse and ill-treatmentduring occupation of residential buildings, including the use of civilians as humanshields and practices that could amount to Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment(CIDT). No less serious was the prevention of prompt access of external investigatorsto the site. In some senses the events at Khuza’a can be said to epitomise the failingsof Israeli policy and practice in the course of this armed conflict in Gaza.30See Article 3 GC IV, and Article 147 GCIV.31WMA Declaration of Tokyo - Guidelines for Physicians Concerning Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatmentor Punishment in Relation to Detention and Imprisonment Adopted by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan,October 1975 and editorially revised by the 170th WMA Council Session, Divonne-les-Bains, France, May 2005 and the 173rdWMA Council Session, Divonne-les-Bains, France, May 2006. The UN Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation ofTorture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, published by the Office of the High Commissionerfor Human Rights and commonly known as the Istanbul Protocol, lists examples of torture methods in its section, ‘G. Reviewof torture methods’, including, inter alia, “(b) Positional torture… prolonged constraint of movement, forced positioning; (n)…restriction of sleep, food, water, toilet facilities, bathing, activities, medical care…; (p) Threats of death, harm to family… mockexecutions.” See section G. Review of torture methods, at p.29. Available at http://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/training8rev1en.pdf , accessed 17 Nov 2014.32Additional Protocol I, Art 12(4)95