Israeli envoy to Austria suggests executing Gaza children in secret recording

Israel's ambassador to Austria, David Roet, has suggested executing Palestinian minors involved in armed conflict, a secretly recorded video has revealed.

During a closed-door meeting with the local Jewish community in Innsbruck on Thursday, Roet said that "there should be a death sentence" for teenagers for "holding a gun" or a "grenade". 

He provided no evidence of children carrying weapons in Gaza.

The video was recorded two days after Israel broke the Gaza ceasefire on 18 March, by which time more than 500 Palestinians were killed, of which almost 200 were children.

Roet dismissed concerns over civilian casualties in Gaza, stating: "If you believe that there are no uninvolved [people] in Gaza… you're believing that Israel is targeting babies intentionally, which is not correct."

According to Unicef, more than 14,500 children have been killed by Israel in Gaza since the start of the war on 7 October 2023. These figures do not include the number of children Israel has killed since it broke the ceasefire.

Overall, Israel has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and wounded 113,000 more since its bombardment of Gaza began. At least 10,000 people are still missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.

'Fascist psychopaths'

Roet also questioned whether Europe should invest in Gaza's reconstruction, suggesting the enclave would simply be destroyed again.

"Will Europe be crazy enough to invest money again in Gaza? So we will have to destroy it the next time," he remarked.

Roet further revealed he was in direct contact with Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker via WhatsApp and claimed to be the only diplomat who had spoken with him.

According to Roet, Stocker sought a meeting to reassure him that Austria's ties with Israel would remain intact.

The activist who filmed the meeting condemned Roet's remarks.

"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," they said.

"This makes me think how corrupted the issue is when people with the power to change something suggest committing war crimes as a solution," the activist added.

"To end the suffering, we must challenge the fascist psychopaths turning us against each other and profiting from imperialist deals."