France’s War Crimes Unit has opened a judicial investigation into an Israeli military strike on a residential building in Beirut that killed seven civilians in November 2024. Among those killed were the parents of Franco-Lebanese artist and filmmaker Ali Cherri.
The investigation follows a complaint filed six months earlier by Cherri and the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Two investigating judges have been appointed to examine the case, which concerns a bombing on November 26, 2024, hours before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was due to take effect.
The strike destroyed three floors of the apartment building. Cherri’s parents, Mahmoud Naim Cherri and Nadira Hayek, and their domestic worker, Birki Negesa, were among the seven people killed.
FIDH lawyer Clémence Bectarte said the case was, to her knowledge, the first judicial investigation opened into crimes allegedly committed by the Israeli army in Lebanon since October 2023. The complaint described the bombing as a war crime, and FIDH said it hoped the inquiry would clarify what happened.
Cherri said the investigation was important to his family’s pursuit of justice and called for those responsible for ordering and carrying out the bombing to be held accountable.
Because Cherri holds French and Lebanese nationality, the investigation will focus on the bombing of his apartment. According to the report, French courts do not have jurisdiction over the deaths of victims who were not French nationals.
Sources: Deadline.