In 2008, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) developed a new approach to the question, ascribing “participation in hostilities” not only to persons engaged in such activities at the time they were killed, but also to persons fulfilling a continuous combat function. This category includes persons who are trained to order or execute combative actions or operations. Such persons remain in this category even if they are not participating directly in such actions and even if they were not engaged in hostilities at the time of death. B’Tselem has applied the ICRC’s approach in classifying fatalities since Operation Cast Lead.