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the Commission of Inquiry, ISIL has carried out mass victimisation of civilians, including murder, enslavement, rape, forcible displacement and torture and has violated its obligations toward civilians and persons hors de combat, amounting to war crimes. In resolution 2139, the Security Council demanded the immediate end to the practice of arbitrarily detaining people and the use of torture in detention centres. Despite this, tens of thousands of civilians continue to be arbitrarily detained and subjected to systematic and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and torture. The majority are males taken at checkpoints or during ground raids. The Commission of Inquiry continues to receive reports of severe torture and beatings in Government detention facilities. Detainees are often held in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions without adequate food, water and healthcare. Reports of detainees dying from torture and malnutrition continue. The Commission has also reported on armed opposition groups taking people hostage, including women and children. People are held under conditions that constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Mr. President, In resolution 2139, the Security Council demanded that all parties respect the principle of medical neutrality and desist from attacks against civilian objects. Despite this call, the deliberate and indiscriminate damage to essential services, including hospitals, schools and infrastructure, have become a regular occurrence. In the last ten months, accounts of damage to water systems and electricity have continued to be reported, with large parts of cities cut off from receipt of basic services. Hospitals across the country have been attacked. Between the adoption of the resolution and the end of November, Physicians for Human Rights has documented 70 attacks on medical facilities, 60 of them by government forces. In the same period 150 deaths of medical personnel were reported. 97 of them killed in the line of duty. The passage of medical assistance to hard-to-reach locations continues to be hindered by the lack of approvals from the Government of Syria. Opposition groups have also prevented medical supplies from reaching besieged communities in Nubul and Zarah. The Government continues to withdraw medicines, medical equipment and supplies including for surgical interventions, such as antibiotics and injectable medicines, from UN convoys. Hospitals continue to be militarized by the parties to the conflict. Schools, which should be safe places for children to learn and grow, have been bombed from the air, subjected to mortar fire and been attacked with car bombs. In the last nine months, the UN has verified at least 35 attacks on or near schools, killing over 105 children. The actual number of schools attacked is likely to be higher. And parties to the conflict continue to use siege as a weapon of war, deliberately denying people access to basic assistance such as food and medicines. At the passing of resolution 2139 in February, there were 220,000 people besieged by either Government or opposition forces. 212,000 remain besieged today; 185,500 people by Government forces and 26,500 people by opposition forces. Many of these communities have been besieged for years