MPs respond after Gaza lecture reveals children's plight
Federal leaders Alison Byrnes and Carol Berry attended Thursday's public lecture about the Gaza war's toll on children. On Friday, the Illawarra MPs responded to a call for Australia to meet international obligations
In delivering a lecture to 200 people, including two federal politicians, about her recent mission to Gaza, Sydney neurosurgeon Dr Ruth Mitchell engaged the audience with the warmth of her delivery – a bedside manner that usually brings comfort to children in distress. “I'm right up on Bluey, Cocomelon; I've got the whole curriculum. I'm quite well versed on dinosaurs. I can talk Lego, aviation,” she said.
In Gaza, she struggled. “What I was up against was the enormous burden of traumatisation.”
Ruth described the effects of war on children who’ve never known peace and the challenges for doctors as Israeli authorities block the entry of medical supplies. She told of one patient, a Palestinian girl recovering from a major spinal operation “with essentially just Panadol and the occasional dose of ibuprofen”.
“There really is a paucity of adequate pain relief and simple medications in Gaza,” she said.
“If that happened at Sydney Children's Hospital, like someone would call their MP, like the Health Minister would hear of it … [it] would be considered malpractice.”
Dr Ruth Mitchell joined a Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA) mission to spend two weeks in Gaza in April-May 2026. She worked at two hospitals, performed 17 major neurosurgical procedures and treated many patients with critical injuries in challenging conditions.
"When I think of the children of Gaza," she said, "the way that their bodies are being destroyed, the way that their childhoods are being stolen … and when they go home from hospital, it is to a tent. When I think of them, I think we must all redouble our efforts. And there's something for everyone to do."
Ruth spoke alongside United Nations Commissioner Chris Sidoti and Dr Colm Galvin, of the Australian Healthcare Alliance for Palestine.
Organised by the Association for the Promotion of International Law, Thursday's event took its title – “The essence of childhood has been destroyed” – from the latest report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.
Afterwards, volunteers handed out flyers listing human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti’s 20-point plan for “simple, practical steps Australia can take”, including “Cease all trade between Australia and Israel in products, components and technology that are or could be put to military use…”
The Illawarra Flame asked federal Labor politicians Carol Berry and Alison Byrnes if they would advocate for any of these steps.
"We know there are many people in our community who care deeply about this issue, as demonstrated with the strong turnout to the event last night,” Alison Byrnes MP said in a statement on Friday afternoon.
"Like so many across the Illawarra, we want to see the war end, and we want to see any starvation and killing of children stop. Our government has long called on Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law.
"Our goal remains a just and lasting peace with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security."
Carol Berry MP said: "We thank the Commissioner Chris Sidoti, Dr Ruth Mitchell and Dr Colm Galvin for their powerful presentations, as well as the organisers and the supporters for their passion. We remain committed to listening to our community and advocating for lasting peace, the protection of civilians and the upholding of international law."
"We will ensure the views of our communities are heard by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister as our government continues to do what we can to bring this war to an end.”
As well as federal leaders, Thursday's audience included Greens city councillor Deidre Stuart, former Greens councillor Cath Blakey, health policy expert Ed Birt, South Coast Writers Centre director Sarah Nicholson, South Coast Labor Council secretary Arthur Rorris, Wollongong Friends of Palestine's Safaa Rayan and Paul Magarey of the Association for the Promotion of International Law.
In one of many confronting stories about her frontline work in Gaza hospitals, Dr Ruth Mitchell told of treating three patients who had been shot in the head overnight. “Two of them were children. And it's very much as Chris [Sidoti] described; these are targeted events with witnesses …
“I spent my last few days in Gaza doing almost entirely reconstructions on people's heads, because when someone is shot in the head, there's like an exit wound that happens, and this is where you really lament the fact that there's just not enough equipment in Gaza. So getting the right amount of like titanium mesh to cover a really big defect in someone's skull, it would be a dream.
“It would be a dream to get a nice big piece.”
Wollongong's event raised $5205 for the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA).
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Genevieve Swart
