A/HRC/12/48 page 152 battery squad who were firing on IDF forces in the area. Hamas operatives Immad Abu Iskar and Hassan Abu Iskar were among terrorists identified killed.384 669. Further statements from spokespersons for the Prime Minister,385 the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli armed forces all adhered to the position set out in the statement cited above. In two interviews the Prime Minister’s spokesman, Mr. Regev, emphasized that he considered Hamas were mounting a cover-up in relation to the fact the senior operatives had been killed by the Israeli armed forces in its strike and in particular that two persons, Imad and Hassan Abu Askar, were “well-known members of the Hamas military machine – part of the rocket network”.386 670. The position set out on 6 January was repeated again in comments to the press on 12 January by an Israeli armed forces’ spokesman.387 671. On 15 and 19 February 2009 The Jerusalem Post published reports quoting Colonel Moshe Levi of CLA. He indicated that the stories of 40 or more dying as a result of the attack were the result of distortions and that in fact the Israeli armed forces had killed 12 people, including nine Hamas operatives and three non-combatants. The report of 19 February lists 7 of the 12 he said were killed. He also pointed out that the Israeli surveillance footage showed only a “few stretchers were brought in to evacuate people”. 672. On 22 April 2009 the Israeli armed forces published the results of their preliminary investigations, stating a completely different position from that previously expressed: 384 http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2009/Initial_inquiry_school_incident_6-Jan-2009.htm. On 7 January in a television interview on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s programme Newsnight, Mr. Regev indicated that he believed that the Israeli armed forces had attacked the school because they had come under fire, that the school was occupied by Hamas operatives and that those Hamas operatives had committed a war crime by using the premises for the purpose of launching mortars. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=enGB&v=9wv0giW1elo&feature=PlayList&p=9277810AA376DF8D&playnext=1&index=5. 385 In another interview he indicated the Israeli armed forces’ patrol returned fire having received mortar fire, that he assumed the school had been taken by force by Hamas “with guns” and held the people in the school as “hostages”. See https://www.csidonline.org/resources/news/9/462-strike-on-gaza-school-kills-40?tmpl=component&print =1&page. On the same day Major Avital Leibovich, spokeswoman of the Israeli armed forces, in an interview with Channel 4 news said that Hamas had fired from “the vicinity of the school” but later asserted that the two Hamas militants were inside the school firing at the Israeli armed forces. See http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/ bcpid1184614595?bctid=6539745001 On the same day Israeli armed forces’ spokesman Captain Benjamin Rutland made a presentation posted on YouTube. He indicated that it had transpired later that the mortar fire had come from within a United Nations school, that this was a crime on the part of Hamas and that civilians had been killed. He noted, however, that Hamas terror operatives had been killed including the well-known Abu Askar brothers. Another Israeli armed forces spokesperson confirmed on 12 January that it was adhering to the same positions as had been expressed on 6 and 7 January. See http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/09/4/2201.htm. See https://www.csidonline.org/resources/news/9/462-strike-on-gaza-school-kills40?tmpl=component&print=1&page 386 387 The statement of Captain Ishai David in The Jerusalem Post on 12 January 2009.