A/HRC/12/48 page 223 1058. At around 3 p.m., he was taken back close to the site of his and HS/08’s house. He told the Mission that he saw the bodies of the three fighters lying on the ground in the rubble of the house. 1059. The soldiers then forced him to enter other houses on the street as they searched them. All the houses were empty. The soldiers forced him to go into the house alone initially and, when he came out, sent in a dog to search the house. During the house searches he managed to find some water to drink, the first drink he had had for two days. At midnight, the soldiers took him back to the HS/09 family house. 1060. On 7 January, all the men and boys were taken from the HS/09 family house and transferred to the house of a cousin of Majdi Abd Rabbo’s in the same neighbourhood. There were more than 100 men and boys, including members of his extended family, aged between 15 and 70. The women were being held elsewhere. Majdi Abd Rabbo’s immediate family members were not there, and he learnt that no one had seen them. He remained extremely anxious about their safety. 1061. At around 11 p.m., the men and boys in that house were told that they were going to be released, and that they should all walk west towards Jabaliyah, without turning left or right, on threat of being shot. They found Izbat Abd Rabbo Street severely damaged. Majdi Abd Rabbo went to his sister’s house in Jabaliyah, where he was reunited with his wife and children on 9 January 2009. His wife then told him that they had stayed for some hours in the house, during the first shooting on 5 January, and had then fled with a white flag to a neighbour’s house. 1062. Majdi Abd Rabbo told the Mission that he and his family were traumatized by what had happened to them and did not know what to do now, having lost their home and all their possessions. His children were all suffering psychologically and performing poorly at school. Five months later, in June 2009, Majdi Abd Rabbo was still having nightmares. 1063. The Mission notes that his account to it implies that there were at least three other Palestinian men compelled by the Israeli armed forces to search houses. A journalist’s account indicates that the author “spoke with eight residents of Izbat Abd Rabbo neighbourhood, who testified that they were made to accompany IDF soldiers on missions involving breaking into and searching houses […]. The eight estimated that about 20 local people were made to carry out “escort and protection” missions of various kinds, […], between January 5 and January 12.”529 B. The case of Abbas Ahmad Ibrahim Halawa 1064. The Mission interviewed Mr. Abbas Ahmad Ibrahim Halawa and his wife,530 and visited al-Israa, the neighbourhood west of Beit Lahia, where his house is located. 1065. When hostilities started on 27 December 2008, Abbas Ahmad Ibrahim Halawa, aged 59, asked his family to leave the home and stayed behind alone. On 9 January 2009, after a day of Haaretz, “Gazans: IDF used us as 'human shields' during offensive”, 28 March 2008, available at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065594.html. 529 530 Mission interviews with Abbas Ahmad Ibrahim Halawa and his wife.