France opens genocide probe into Gaza aid blockade
PARIS: French anti-terror prosecutors have opened probes into "complicity in genocide" and "incitement to genocide" after French-Israelis allegedly blocked aid intended for war-torn Gaza last year, they said on Friday.
The two investigations, opened after legal complaints, were also to look into possible "complicity in crimes against humanity" between January and May 2024, the anti-terror prosecutor's office (PNAT) said.
They are the first known probes in France to be looking into alleged violations of international law in Gaza, several sources with knowledge of the cases told AFP.
In a separate case made public on the same day, the grandmother of two children with French nationality who were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza has filed a legal complaint in Paris, accusing Israel of "genocide" and "murder", her lawyer said.
The French judiciary has jurisdiction when French citizens are involved in such cases.
Rights groups, lawyers and some Israeli historians have described the Gaza war as "genocide."
Israel, created in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews during World War II, vehemently rejects the accusation.
The French probes were opened after two separate legal complaints.
In the first, the Jewish French Union for Peace (UFJP) and a French-Palestinian victim filed a complaint in November targeting alleged French members of hardline pro-Israel groups "Israel is forever" and "Tzav-9."
It accused them of "physically" preventing the passage of trucks at border checkpoints controlled by the Israeli army.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, Damia Taharraoui and Marion Lafouge, told AFP they were happy a probe had been launched into the events in January 2024 – "a time when no-one wanted to hear anything about genocide."
A source close to the case said prosecutors last month urged the investigation in relation to events at the Nitzana crossing point between Egypt and Israel, and the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into Gaza.
Around that time, hardline Israeli protesters – including friends and relatives of hostages held in Gaza – blocked aid lorries from entering the occupied Palestinian territory and forced them to turn back at Kerem Shalom.
A second complaint from a group called the Lawyers for Justice in the Middle East (CAPJO) accused members of "Israel is forever" of having blocked aid trucks.
It used photos, videos and public statements to back up its complaint.
No court has so far concluded that the ongoing conflict is a genocide.
But in rulings in January, March and May 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' highest judicial organ, told Israel to do everything possible to "prevent" acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza, including through allowing in urgently needed aid.
In the separate case, Jacqueline Rivault, the grandmother of six- and nine-year-old children killed in an Israeli strike, filed her complaint accusing Israel of "genocide" and "murder" with the crimes against humanity section of the Court of Paris, lawyer Arie Alimi said.
Though formally against unnamed parties, the complaint explicitly targets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government and the military.
The complaint states that an Israeli missile strike killed Janna, six, and Abderrahim Abudaher, nine, in northern Gaza on Oct 24, 2023.
"We believe these children are dead as part of a deliberate organised policy targeting the whole of Gaza's population with a possible genocidal intent," Alimi said.
The children's brother Omar, now five, was severely wounded but still lives in Gaza with their mother, identified as Yasmine Z., the complaint said.
A French court in 2019 convicted Yasmine Z. in absentia of having funded a group over giving money in Gaza to members of Palestinian groups Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
Israel said last month it was easing the complete blockade of Gaza it imposed on March 2 but on May 30 the United Nations said the territory's entire population of more than two million people remained at risk of famine.
A US-backed aid group last week began distributions but reports that the Israeli military shot dead dozens of Palestinians trying to collect food has sparked widespread condemnation. The UN and major aid organisations have refused to cooperate with the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund, citing concerns that it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
Hamas fighters launched an attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023. A total of 1,218 people died, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The group abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory war on Hamas-run Gaza has killed 54,677 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry there, figures the United Nations deems reliable.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
It also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif over similar allegations linked to the October 7 attack but the case against him was dropped in February after confirmation Israel had killed him.--AFP
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