Al-Monitor, on Lebanon, 3 November 2026

3.0out of 10Minor

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

Tap a highlight to see why it matters.1 finding

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.

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.

- Several investigations underway -

While the judicial investigation marks a first over alleged war crimes by Israeli forces in Lebanon, other cases are pending.

French-Lebanese man Mohamad H., represented by lawyer Emmanuel Daoud, has sought action after losing his mother, sister, and two nephews in strikes on the southern city of Tyre during the night of April 16–17.

In another case, a French entrepreneur born in Lebanon has accused the Israeli army of uprooting 600-century-old olive trees belonging to his family in a village in southern Lebanon.

France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT), which handles war crimes, has opened an investigation into allegations of torture and war crimes related to the Israeli forces' interception of humanitarian flotillas bound for Gaza in 2025 and 2026.

The PNAT also asked a Paris judge to open a war crimes investigation into the deaths of two French children in an Israeli bombing in Gaza in October 2023, while ruling out charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, according to sources close to the case.

fbe/bed/giv/ah/tw

Read the original article on al-monitor.com (opens in a new tab)
What we found (1)

Al-Monitor's AFP report says France has opened a war crimes investigation into the Israeli strike that killed Ali Cherri's parents and five other civilians in Beirut. It names Israel as the striking party and gives the victims' ages and the evidence behind the complaint. In its one background sentence on the wider toll, the outlet calls Israel's killing in Lebanon "hostilities" that "have left" the dead, with no actor and no word for killing.

  1. Writes the death out

    Minor

    “The hostilities, which escalated into open war in September 2024, have left more than 4,000 dead in Lebanon”

    Why this matters
    The words "The hostilities" and "have left more than 4,000 dead" give the Lebanon toll with no actor and no verb of killing. The sentence follows one in which Hezbollah "opened a front", so the only party named as acting is Hezbollah.
    The impression it gives
    A reader takes the 4,000 dead as the product of mutual fighting between two comparable sides, with no one responsible for the killing.
    The context
    The article itself names Israel as the party bombing Lebanon: the Beirut strike, the Tyre strikes and Cherri's words about "the Israeli bombing that killed my parents". The record shows the killing is overwhelmingly one-directional. Israel has killed roughly 3,000 people in Lebanon since 2 March 2026 alone, against roughly 21 people killed by Hezbollah in Israel over the same period. Israel also invaded southern Lebanon and bombarded Beirut.

    How we know

    • Elsewhere in the article“the Israeli bombing that killed my parents and five other civilians”
    • Elsewhere in the article“an Israeli strike on a residential building in Lebanon”
    • On the recordIsrael has killed roughly 3,000 people in Lebanon since 2 March 2026, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry's count.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)
    • On the recordHezbollah has killed roughly 21 people in Israel over the same period.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)
    • On the recordIsrael invaded southern Lebanon and bombarded Beirut and other areas.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)

    Show it in the article

Spot something we missed? Report this article

More from Al-Monitor

  1. 29 OctIn Lebanese village near Israeli troops, farmers brave danger to harvest their olives3.0
  2. 26 OctHezbollah readies for new regional war with funds from Iran, sources say3.0
  3. 19 OctLebanon uncovers new tunnel amid tensions with Hezbollah: What to know0.0
  4. 18 Oct'It's family': Lebanese villagers dread looming UN peacekeeper pullout6.0
  5. 15 OctRubio urges Lebanon to not return confiscated explosives to Hezbollah, US official says0.0

Everything we scored from Al-Monitor

See how 15 outlets covered this story