Israel’s Ambassador to Austria, David Roet, proposed during a closed meeting with members of the Jewish community in Innsbruck that Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip should be executed for “holding a gun” or a “grenade”, without providing any evidence of children carrying weapons in the enclave, a secretly recorded video has revealed.
According to Middle East Eye on Monday, the video was recorded two days after the Israeli occupation violated the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip at dawn on 18 March. The resumed bombing killed more than 500 Palestinians in a matter of hours, including nearly 200 children.
The Israeli ambassador appeared to dismiss the international community’s concerns about civilian casualties. “If you believe that there are no uninvolved [people] in Gaza… you’re believing that Israel is targeting babies intentionally, which is not correct.”
In a leaked video, Israel’s ambassador to Austria, David Roet, was seen suggesting that Palestinian minors should be killed. pic.twitter.com/Xc0ferfD2O
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 24, 2025
A recent report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that the Israeli occupation forces have killed more than 14,500 children in Gaza since the start of the genocide in October, 2023. That figure now stands at 15,613 children killed by Israel in the same period.
In the same recording, Roet questioned whether it made sense for Europe to invest in the reconstruction of Gaza, saying sarcastically, “Will Europe be crazy enough to invest money again in Gaza? So, we will have to destroy it the next time,” he remarked.
Middle East Eye quoted the anonymous activist who leaked the recording as saying, “I felt sickened by the calm in Mr Roet’s voice as he made these statements. No one intervened when he suggested the death penalty for children. This makes me think how corrupted the issue is when people with the power to change something suggest committing war crimes as a solution.”
To end the suffering, added the activist, “We must challenge the fascist psychopaths turning us against each other and profiting from imperialist deals.”