Hopes of ongoing peace in the Middle East are extending to Australia but the nation's deep-seated racism also needs to be tackled, the race discrimination commissioner says.

Supporters of Palestine and Israel in Australia have cautiously welcomed a ceasefire in Gaza as the first step towards meaningful peace in the region.

Australian Human Rights Commission race discrimination commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman hopes the news will lessen division closer to home.

"I hope with the ceasefire we find … a lessening of the immediate impacts of some of the dehumanisation and othering," he told AAP.

"But I think that these problems will remain because they're structural problems."

The commission's consultations with Jewish, Arab, Muslim and Palestinian communities, as part of the Seen and Hear

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