A/HRC/29/52 with regard to the use of schools, mosques and hospitals and the areas in their immediate vicinity for military purposes. By firing rockets from densely populated areas, Palestinian armed groups also put Gazans in danger; for example, on 28 July 2014, 13 civilians, including 11 children, were killed in Al-Shati camp when a rocket appears to have fallen short of its target. 64. The commission recognizes that the obligation to avoid locating military objectives within densely populated areas is not absolute. The small size of Gaza and its population density make it difficult for armed groups to always comply with this requirement. While the commission was unable to verify independently the specific incidents alleged by Israel, the frequency of reports of Palestinian armed groups carrying out military operations in the immediate vicinity of civilian objects and specially protected objects suggests that such conduct could have been avoided on a number of occasions. In those instances, Palestinian armed groups may not have complied, to the maximum extent feasible, with their legal obligations. In cases where their goal may have been to use the presence of civilians to protect military assets from attack, this would constitute a violation of the customary law prohibition against the use of human shields. 52 With regard to the alleged use of medical facilities and ambulances for military purposes, if verified, and if the buildings or ambulances bore distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, such as the Red Crescent, such actions would amount to an improper use of a distinctive emblem, in violation of customary international humanitarian law. 65. Regardless of the case-by-case legality of the actions of Palestinian armed groups, the military use of civilian buildings and densely populated areas from which to conduct military operations increases the risk to the civilian population and civilian objects. The questionable conduct of these armed groups does not, however, modify Israel’s own obligations to abide by international law. (b) Measures to facilitate the removal of the civilian population from the vicinity of military objectives 66. The authorities in Gaza stated that they had taken measures to facilitate evacuation from areas most affected by the hostilities, including by setting up shelters for internally displaced persons and conducting more than 4,450 evacuation missions in Beit Hanoun, Shuja’iya and Khuza’a. Nevertheless, the commission is concerned that, in some cases, the authorities in Gaza reportedly encouraged residents not to heed the warnings given by the Israel Defense Forces.53 If confirmed, and depending on the circumstances, such declarations may indicate that the authorities in Gaza did not take all the precautions necessary to protect the civilian population under their control as required by international humanitarian law. Executions of suspected “collaborators” (c) 67. The commission found that 21 alleged “collaborators” were executed between 5 and 22 August 2014. Sixteen of them were taken from Al-Katiba prison where they had been held in the custody of the local authorities in Gaza and shot by firing squad. 54 The AlQassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the executions, in some cases claiming that the persons executed had been “found guilty of giving information on the whereabouts of 52 53 54 16 Protocol I, art. 51, para. 7. Statement by Hamas spokesperson Mushir al-Masri, 16 July 2014, available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks_nlgjfPWM (in Arabic). Amnesty International, “Strangling necks”: Abductions, torture and summary killings of Palestinians by Hamas forces during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict”, 26 May 2015.