A/HRC/12/48 page 119 472. The Mission is aware of an interview reportedly given by an ambulance driver to an Australian newspaper, in which he describes how Palestinian combatants unsuccessfully tried to force him to evacuate them from a house in which they were apparently trapped. The same driver reportedly told the journalist that “Hamas made several attempts to hijack the ambulance fleet of al-Quds Hospital”. He also describes how the PRCS ambulance teams managed to avert this misuse of ambulances. According to this report, relied on by the Israeli Government, the attempts of Palestinian combatants to exploit ambulances as shield for military operations were not successful in the face of the courageous resistance of the PRCS staff members.327 473. This is consistent with the statements of representatives of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza who, in interviews with the Mission, denied that their ambulances were used at any time by Palestinian combatants. Finally, in a submission to the Mission, Magen David Adom stated that “there was no use of PRCS ambulances for the transport of weapons or ammunition … [and] there was no misuse of the emblem by PRCS.”328 474. While it is not possible to say that no attempts were ever made by any armed groups to use ambulances during the military operations, the Mission has substantial material from the investigations it conducted and the enquiries it made to convince it that, if any ambulances were used by Palestinian armed groups, it would have been the exception, not the rule. None of the ambulance drivers that were directly interviewed by the Mission reported any attempt by the armed groups to use the ambulances for any ulterior purpose. Moreover, of the ambulance staff members and their volunteer assistants that were killed or injured in the course of their duties, none was a member of any armed groups, so far as the Mission is aware. E. Forcing civilians to remain in an area for the specific purpose of sheltering that area or forces in that area from attack 475. As discussed in more detail in other parts of the report, the Mission asked numerous witnesses in Gaza why they had stayed in their homes in spite of the shelling, bombing and Israeli ground invasion. They stated that they had decided to stay put either because they had experienced previous incursions and, based on past experience, did not think they would be at risk as long as they remained indoors329 or because they had no safe place to go.330 In additional, some witnesses stated that they had chosen to stay because they wished to watch over their homes and property.331 The Mission did not find any evidence of civilians being forced to remain in their houses by Palestinian armed groups. 327 Ibid., para. 177-179. Communication by Magen David Adom to the Mission, 9 August 2009. Magen David Adom is Israel’s national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. It is a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and has a long-standing cooperation with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. That no PRCS ambulances had been used to transport weapons or fighters was also stated forcefully by a Magen David Adom representative to representatives of the Mission in Geneva on 22 July 2009. 328 329 Mission interview with Khaled Abd Rabbo. 330 See chap. IX. Interview with Abbas Ahmad Ibrahim Halawa, 3 June 2009 (see chap. XIV on the case of Abbas Ahmad Ibrahim Halawa). 331