A/HRC/15/21 through the cabin windows or by placing signs, written in English and Hebrew, in the ship’s windows. These attempts proved unsuccessful and it was up to two hours before the Israeli forces took out the wounded persons. However, the wounded were required to leave the cabins themselves, or taken outside in a rough manner, without apparent concern for the nature of their injuries and the discomfort that this would cause. 131. The wounded passengers were taken to the front of the top deck where they joined other passengers injured during the operation on the top deck and where the bodies of persons killed during the operation had been left. Wounded passengers, including persons seriously injured with live fire wounds, were handcuffed with plastic cord handcuffs, which were often tied very tightly causing some of the injured to lose sensitivity in their hands. These plastic handcuffs cannot be loosened without being cut off, but can be tightened. Many were also stripped naked and then had to wait some time, possibly as long as twothree hours, before receiving medical treatment. Medical treatment was given to a number of wounded persons on the top deck by the Israeli forces.76 132. Over several hours the wounded passengers were then airlifted by Israeli forces helicopters from the ship to hospitals in Israel.77 However, some of the wounded remained on board the Mavi Marmara, at least one of whom had injuries caused by live ammunition and did not receive appropriate medical treatment until after the ship’s arrival at the port of Ashdod in Israel many hours later. (vi) Search and initial detention of Mavi Marmara passengers 133. All other passengers on the Mavi Marmara were taken one by one from the cabin areas and onto the external deck areas and were searched. The vast majority of passengers, including the ship’s captain and crew, were then handcuffed with plastic handcuffs and forced to kneel on the various decks for some hours. Some women, elderly men and persons from Western countries were not handcuffed, or were temporarily handcuffed and then uncuffed after a relatively short period of time and were then permitted to sit on the benches. Most of those kneeling were drenched by water from the blades of the helicopter and were thus also in wet clothing throughout this period and were very cold. Other passengers exposed on open decks received serious sun-burn to their skin as a result of many hours exposure: medical reports show that at least 13 passengers received first-degree burns as a consequence. During the course of the 12-hour journey to the port of Ashdod in Israel, the passengers were brought inside the ship and allowed to sit on the available seating. 134. In the process of being detained, or while kneeling on the outer decks for several hours, there was physical abuse of passengers by the Israeli forces, including kicking and punching and being hit with the butts of rifles. One foreign correspondent, on board in his professional capacity, was thrown on the ground and kicked and beaten before being handcuffed. The passengers were not allowed to speak or to move and there were frequent instances of verbal abuse, including derogatory sexual remarks about the female passengers. Passengers were denied access to toilet facilities or made to wait for lengthy periods before being escorted to the toilet and then forced to use the toilet with Israeli soldiers watching and while handcuffed. Some passengers were in serious discomfort as a result, while others used makeshift receptacles, such as plastic bottles and others still were 76 77 According to the testimony of COGS Ashkenazi to the Turkel Committee on 11 August 2010, field surgeries were performed on14 passengers on board the ship. Also according to the above testimony, 31 wounded passengers and 7 wounded Israeli soldiers were airlifted from the ship utilizing “approximately 40 helicopter evacuations” and all wounded had been evacuated by 1230 hours. 31