NEW YORK: Former Australian human rights commissioner, Chris Sidoti, expressed deep concerns on Thursday over the escalating conflict in Gaza, describing it as an “Israeli terrorism creation factory.”
Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, Sidoti said ongoing violence was planting seeds for future hostilities and emphasized the disproportionate impact on children.
“Kids aren’t terrorists,” Sidoti said, repeating the statement to journalists.
“On Oct. 7, 38 Israeli children were killed, one of them under the age of two years. Since then, at least … 13,319 children have been killed in Gaza, of whom 786 were under the age of one. In addition, 165 children have been killed in the West Bank.”
Sidoti, one of three members of the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, warned that without intervention, the conflict was likely to worsen further.
“When the current Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu talks about finishing off Hamas, I wonder about what the 1 million children in Gaza will be doing in 20 years’ time. The conflict in Gaza is an Israeli terrorism creation factory and there is no sign of it finishing,” he told The Guardian Australia.
“People are still being killed, in particular, kids are still being killed in very large numbers, and the likelihood is it will get worse before it gets better.
“There is no end in sight. To help these kids, to help Israel, it’s got to stop. Then, there is a possibility, but until it stops, there is no chance,” he added.
He expressed concern over the long-term trauma faced by children affected by the conflict.
“The kids who are traumatised by the loss of parents, siblings, aunties, uncles, grandparents, cousins, can’t go through what they have had to experience without this having a severe impact on them and their lives forever.”
The commission’s latest report, delivered on Oct. 30, painted a dire picture of the situation on the ground, citing systematic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system, attacks on medical personnel, and the targeting of children.
“Israeli security forces have deliberately killed, wounded, arrested, detained, mistreated, and tortured medical personnel and targeted medical vehicles, constituting the war crimes of willful killing and mistreatment,” the report stated.
The inquiry also documented abuses of Israeli and Palestinian hostages, with Sidoti adding: “The commission finds that the majority of hostages were subjected to mistreatment, and that some were subjected to physical violence.
“The commission received credible information about some hostages being subjected to sexual and gender-based violence while in captivity, including sexualised torture and abuse against men and women when they were held in tunnels. One released female hostage reported that she had been raped in an apartment,” he said.
“We found there was strong evidence of torture, of significant mistreatment, and a wide variety of human rights abuses that, in both cases, constituted war crimes. The practices were clear and systematic on both sides,” Sidoti added.
Reflecting on the broader conflict, Sidoti said the violence “started long before Oct. 7, 2023, it’s been going on for 85 years ... The parties are not willing to find a way to resolve it.”
Despite diminishing hope, he remained committed to the work of investigation and advocating for accountability.
“We just have to keep at our work — investigating, reporting, encouraging and enabling accountability — and know that at some point in the future, there will be accountability, that those who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity will be brought to justice,” he said.
“A resolution requires a willingness from parties to sit down and solve this. But one thing this fighting has done over the last 13 months has been to cement the position of extremists on all sides, and even the outside.”
