French judges probe war crimes complaint against Israeli army in Lebanon: lawyer

France has opened a judicial investigation into a war crimes complaint over an Israeli strike on a residential building in Lebanon, a lawyer told AFP on Tuesday.

French-Lebanese artist Ali Cherri, whose parents were killed in the Beirut strike in 2024, filed the complaint as a civil party this year with the International Federation for Human Rights, Cherri’s lawyer Clemence Bectarte explained.

The crimes against humanity unit of the Paris Judicial Court has appointed two investigating judges to the case, she added, hailing the move as “a first”.

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 October 7, 2023.

The hostilities, which escalated into open war in September 2024, have left more than 4,000 dead in Lebanon and forced more than a million people to flee.

Seven civilians, including Cherri’s father and mother, aged 87 and 77, were killed in the bombing of their 12-storey apartment building in central Beirut on November 26, 2024, according to the complaint seen by AFP. Three floors were destroyed.

The strike occurred “just a few hours before the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect,” the complaint stated, citing detailed research by Amnesty International and Forensic Architecture into the incident.

AFP has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

Cherri told AFP he had taken legal action “for the dignity of all civilian victims”.

“For nearly two years, I have been fighting… to ensure that the Israeli bombing that killed my parents and five other civilians does not go unpunished,” he said.

“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,” he added.