「私たちを責めないで」 越境攻撃の生存者、国連に訴え

【ジュネーブＡＦＰ＝時事】昨年１０月７日のイスラム組織ハマスによるイスラエル南部への越境攻撃を生き延びたサビーネ・タアサさん（４８）は４日、スイス・ジュネーブの国連（ＵＮ）子どもの権利委員会で、イスラエルを戦争の責任者として非難するのをやめ、イスラエルの子どもたちに植え付けられた心の傷に焦点を当てるよう訴えた。（写真は、２０２３年１０月７日のイスラム組織ハマスによる奇襲攻撃を受け、生還したサビーネ・タアサさん）
　タアサさんには４人の子どもがいたが、昨年の越境攻撃で１７歳の長男と夫を亡くした。
　権利委員会での証言では、イスラエル南部の集落ネティブハアサラにあるタアサさんの自宅をハマスが襲撃する直前に長男から電話があったと話し、その声は恐怖に震えているように聞こえたが「ママ、大丈夫だよ」と言い、心配しないようにと話していたと説明した。
　その直後に長男は殺害された。ハマス戦闘員が殺害の様子を撮影し、タアサさんも後に動画を見せられた。
　「１７歳の子どもの頭に向けて銃を６発も撃つのは普通ですか？」
　「私たちを責めるのはやめてほしい」
　ほぼ同時刻、ハマスはタアサさんの自宅も襲撃した。
　夫のギルさん（４６）は拳銃で反撃したが、ハマスが投げた手りゅう弾から子どもたちを守ろうと覆いかぶさった。
　息子２人は負傷し、最年少のシャイ（現在９歳）君は失明した。
　■「私たちは犯罪者ではない」
　タアサさんの証言を前に、委員会のメンバーは、子どもの権利がパレスチナでも尊重されるようイスラエルに求めていた。
　しかし、タアサさんは委員会に対し「パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区の子どもだけでなく、心の傷を植え付けられたイスラエルの子どもについても考えてほしい」と訴えた。
　また「私たちは犯罪者ではない」と述べ、ハマスこそが「子ども、女性、男性、高齢者を殺すテロリスト、悪魔だ」と強調した。
　■「シンワルを捕まえて殺すまで幸せにはなれない」
　タアサさんは「ハマス壊滅」というイスラエル政府の目標を支持している。ＡＦＰには「私たちがこの戦争を望んだわけではない」と話した。
　イスラエル軍は３日、ハマス戦闘員８人の殺害について発表した。その中には、ネティブハアサラ攻撃の指揮官も含まれていた。指揮官の姿は、タアサさんの家で撮影されていた。
　「この男を覚えている。とても醜かった」と言い、殺害されたと聞いて「非常に満足した」と話した。
　「それでも（ハマス最高指導者のヤヒヤ・）シンワルを捕まえて殺すまで幸せにはなれない」 【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/09/06-21:00）

October 7 survivor Sabine Taasa, who lost her husband and 17-year-old son during the Hamas attack, urged UN experts to stop blaming Israel for the war and focus on the trauma inflicted on Israeli children.
I need you to stop blaming us, said Taasa, 48, whose son's murder was filmed by his killers.
Before Hamas militants burst into Taasa's home in the village of Netiv Haasara in southern Israel, her eldest son Or -- who was on his way to the beach -- called her.
The mother-of-four said he sounded terrified but urged her not to worry, and said, Mom, I promise everything will be ok.
He was killed just seconds later. And she would later see the video filmed by the militants who shot him.
Is that normal? Shooting a child of 17 six times in the head? Taasa asked the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva as she described the horrors of October 7.
- Deeply traumatised -
Around the same time, militants entered Taasa's home.
Her husband Gil, 46, a firefighter, grabbed his handgun to fight back. The militants lobbed a grenade at him and he threw himself on top of it to protect his children.
Two of their sons were injured. The youngest, Shay, now nine, had an eye blown out of its socket, permanently blinding that eye.
Taasa's three surviving sons are deeply traumatised, she told AFP after the hearing, describing how Shay cannot sleep without me. He needs me 24/7.
Just then her phone rang. She said her son calls her every minute, and if an hour goes by without them speaking he tells her: Mama, I was pretty sure that something bad happened to you. I don't want you to die.
Before her testimony, the child rights committee had insisted that Israel ensure children's rights are respected not only there but also in Palestinian territories under its effective control.
Several of the committee's 18 independent experts voiced deep concern about the situation of children living in Gaza, where Israel's campaign against Hamas since October 7 has killed at least 40,861 people, according to the territory's health ministry.
Most of the dead are women and children, according to the UN human rights office.
The Hamas attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
- Marked for life -
Taasa urged the committee to reflect on what it means to be not just a child in Gaza, but also a child in Israel living with trauma marking them for life.
These children are the future of Israel, of the world. If we don't help them now and cure them, we will not have a future.
We are not criminals, she said the French Israeli, insisting it was Hamas who are the terrorists, the devils who kill children, women, men, the elderly.
Taasa, who supports Israel government's stated aim to destroy Hamas, told AFP she hoped her evidence would help garner a bit of understanding from the committee, insisting we didn't ask for this war.
Her testimony came after Israel's military announced Tuesday that it had killed eight Hamas fighters from the Daraj Tuffah Battalion, including Ahmed Fozi Nazer Muhammad Wadia, the commander who led the invasion of Netiv Haasara and who was photographed inside Taasa's home.
I remember him. He was very ugly, Taasa told AFP, adding that she felt very satisfied after hearing he had been killed.
But not happy, she said, adding that she would not feel happy until we get (Hamas chief Yahya) Sinwar and kill him.