PARIS: French anti-terror prosecutors have opened probes into “complicity in genocide” and “incitement to genocide” after French-Israelis allegedly blocked aid intended for 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 last year, 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 said.

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.

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, said 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 Israeli prisoners 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.

Genocide 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.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2025