# French judges open inquiry into Israeli war crime allegation

> A Paris court has opened a judicial investigation into an Israeli air strike on a Beirut apartment building in November 2024 that killed seven civilians, including the parents of a Paris-based artist.
- Title: French judges open inquiry into Israeli war crime allegation
- Summary: A Paris court has opened a judicial investigation into an Israeli air strike on a Beirut apartment building in November 2024 that killed seven civilians…
- Keywords: israel, lebanon, beirut, war crimes, france, hezbollah, gaza war, international criminal law, ali cherri, fidh, RFI
- Source: RFI — https://rfi.fr/en/international/20261104-french-judges-open-inquiry-into-complaint-of-israeli-war-crime
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: israel, lebanon, beirut, war crimes, france, hezbollah, gaza war, international criminal law, ali cherri, fidh, news, world
## Paris court opens war crimes inquiry
French judges have opened a judicial investigation into a complaint of an alleged war crime following an Israeli air strike on a residential building in Beirut in November 2024.
## Seven killed in Beirut apartment bombing
Seven civilians, including Ali Cherri's eighty-seven-year-old father and seventy-seven-year-old mother, were killed in the bombing of their twelve-storey apartment building in central Beirut.
## Artist and filmmaker files complaint
Ali Cherri, a Paris-based artist and film-maker, filed the complaint as a civil party in April with the International Federation for Human Rights, known as FIDH.
## Paris court appoints investigating judges
The crimes against humanity unit of the Paris Judicial Court has appointed two investigating judges to the case.
## Hezbollah opened front in October 2023
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian militants Hamas, opened a front against neighbouring Israel at the start of the Gaza war, after Hamas attacked Israel on seven October two thousand twenty-three.
## Hostilities escalated into open war
The hostilities escalated into open war in September two thousand twenty-four, leaving more than four thousand dead in Lebanon and forcing more than a million people to flee.
## Strike occurred hours before ceasefire
The strike that killed Cherri's parents occurred just a few hours before the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect, according to the complaint.
## First inquiry into Israeli actions in Lebanon
To our knowledge, this is the very first judicial investigation opened into the crimes committed by the Israeli army in Lebanon since October two thousand twenty-three, said Clémence Bectarte of FIDH.

> To our knowledge, this is the very first judicial investigation opened into the crimes committed by the Israeli army in Lebanon since October 2023.
## Cherri seeks justice for all victims
Cherri said he had taken legal action for the dignity of all civilian victims and hopes the investigation will break impunity for Israeli officials responsible for attacks against civilians.

> What happened to my parents is not an isolated case. I hope this investigation will help break the impunity enjoyed by Israeli officials responsible for attacks against civilians in Lebanon and Palestine.
## Second complaint filed in June
Mohamad H, a forty-two-year-old French-Lebanese man, filed a complaint in June in Paris alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity after an Israeli air strike in April on Tyre killed his mother, sister and two…
## Olive trees uprooted in southern Lebanon
A French entrepreneur born in Lebanon has accused the Israeli army of uprooting six hundred century-old olive trees belonging to his family in a village in southern Lebanon.
## Prosecutor opens torture and war crimes inquiry
France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into allegations of torture and war crimes related to Israeli forces' interception of humanitarian flotillas bound for Gaza in twenty twenty-five and twenty twenty-six.
## Key takeaway

French judges have opened a war crimes investigation into an Israeli strike on a Beirut residential building in November 2024 that killed seven people, marking the first such judicial inquiry into Israeli military actions in Lebanon since October 2023.