A/HRC/12/48 page 192 Idwan hospital in Beit Lahia for treatment. They returned to the house at around 8.15 a.m. where a decision was taken by the mourners to end the condolence ceremony for fear of further attacks. 872. The witness stated that at around 8.30 a.m. when the people were leaving the house of Mohammed Deeb Abd al-Dayem and moving towards the women’s condolence tent, two flechette missiles struck within a few metres of the tent and less than half a minute apart. Around 20 to 30 persons assembled there were injured. The injured include a 13-year-old boy who received a flechette injury to the right side of his head and a 33-year-old man who sustained injuries to the chest and head, his body punctuated with little holes according to a witness who saw his corpse being prepared for burial. A 22-year-old man was wounded in the abdomen, the chest and the head. A 16-year-old boy sustained injuries to the head and the neck. A 26-year-old man sustained injuries to his chest, head and left leg. These five persons died of their injuries. Another 17 persons present at the scene, including 14 men, two children (aged 17 and 11) and one woman were injured. 873. IK/12, who survived the attack, still has several flechettes embedded in his body, including in his chest, and is unable to move freely without pain. 874. Witnesses described that their sense of loss was aggravated by the fact that they could not access the injured or dead in hospitals as movement was restricted owing to continued shelling in and around the neighbourhood. Only two families out of the five families of the dead were able to conduct the burial according to their traditional customs and practices. 2. The Israeli position 875. The Israeli Government does not appear to have made any public comment on the allegations surrounding the Abd al-Dayem case, despite information about it being in the public domain for some time.478 It has, however, recalled that the Israeli High Court of Justice has rejected the argument that flechette munitions are by their nature indiscriminate and maintains that subject to the general requirements of the rules of armed conflict their use is legal.479 3. Factual findings 876. The Mission visited the area and the house of the Abd al-Dayem family. It spoke with the father of Arafa Abd al-Dayem, who had died as a result of the injuries received while working as a first-aid volunteer, and with several of the witnesses who had attended the condolence ceremonies. 877. The account of the incidents was consistent and plausible. The fact that it was mainly men who were killed near the women’s tent is explained by the fact that the strikes occurred precisely when the men were making their way across the road. The incident is mentioned in Amnesty International, Fuelling Conflict: Foreign Arms Supplies to Usrael/Gaza (February 2009). 478 479 See “The operation in Gaza…”, paras. 431-435.