A/HRC/12/48 page 113 the IDF, involving combat in the Gaza Strip’s urban spaces and adjacent to facilities associated with international organizations.”299 445. The Mission will address the justifications put forward by the Government of Israel for attacks on protected sites that it alleged were being used by Palestinian armed groups and that are investigated in this report. A. Launching attacks from within civilian areas and from within or in the immediate vicinity of protected sites 446. The Mission investigated two incidents in which the Government of Israel alleged that Palestinian combatants had fired on the Israeli armed forces from within a United Nations protected site or its immediate vicinity in densely populated urban areas. In the case of the shelling in al-Fakhura Street by the Israeli armed forces on 6 January 2009 (chap. X), the Mission accepted, on the basis of information in the reports it had seen, the possibility of mortar attacks from Palestinian combatants in the vicinity of the school. 447. In the incident at the UNRWA compound in the neighbourhood of Rimal, in the centre of Gaza City, senior international UNRWA staff indicate that they were unaware of any sustained fire at the relevant time from anywhere in the nearby areas (chap. IX). In that case the Mission was unable to make a finding as to whether any combat activity was being conducted by Palestinian armed groups against the Israeli armed forces in that area at that time. 448. The Mission spoke with two witnesses who testified to the launching of rockets from urban areas. One witness stated seeing rockets being launched from a narrow street and from a square in Gaza City without providing further details as to when this occurred.300 A second witness told the Mission that rockets may have been fired from within the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood north of Gaza City during the military operations in Gaza.301 449. The Mission found corroboration of these witness accounts in a number of reports from international NGOs. In reports issued following Israel’s military operations in Gaza, Amnesty International, the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch each determined that the rocket units of the Palestinian armed groups operated from within populated areas.302 Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group gathered reports from civilians about instances in which armed groups had launched or had attempted to launch rockets near residential areas. Human Rights Watch quoted a resident of northern Gaza as stating that, on 1 January 2009, residents of the area prevented Palestinian fighters, who they believed were preparing to launch http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/opcast/postop/press/2202.htm. According to the Israeli Government, “when a party to an armed conflict uses civilian and protected spaces for military purposes, those spaces become legitimate targets for the opposing side, thereby placing civilian lives and infrastructure in great danger” (“The operation in Gaza…”, para. 153). 299 300 Mission interview with RA/01, June 2009. 301 Mission interview with RA/02, June 2009. Israel/Gaza: Operation “Cast Lead”: 22 days…, pp.74–75; “Gaza’s unfinished business…”, p. 3; Rockets from Gaza..., p. 21. 302