French grandmother files 'genocide' complaint in Paris over Israel's Gaza killings

The grandmother of two children with French nationality killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza has filed a legal complaint in Paris, accusing Israel of "genocide" and "murder", her lawyer said Friday.

Jacqueline Rivault filed her complaint with the "crimes against humanity" section of the Court of Paris, lawyer Arie Alimi said.

Rivault hopes the fact her daughter's children, aged six and nine, were French citizens means the country's judiciary will decide it has jurisdiction to designate a magistrate to investigate the allegations.

Rights groups, lawyers and some Israeli historians have described the Gaza war as "genocide".

Amnesty International has accused Israel of carrying out a "live-streamed genocide" in Gaza, while Human Rights Watch has alleged it is responsible for "acts of genocide".

A UN committee in November found Israel's warfare in Gaza was "consistent with the characteristics of genocide".

And a UN investigation concluded in March that Israel carried out "genocidal acts" in Gaza through the destruction of the strip's main IVF clinic and other reproductive healthcare facilities.

But Israel, created in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews during World War II, vehemently rejects the term.

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The complaint states that "two F16 missiles fired by the Israeli army" killed Janna, six, and Abderrahim Abudaher, nine, in northern Gaza on October 24, 2023.

They and their family had sought refuge in another home "between Faluja and Beit Lahia" after leaving their own two days earlier due to heavy bombardment, the 48-page document stated.

One missile entered "through the roof and the second directly into the room where the family was", it said.

Abderrahim was killed instantly, while his sister Janna died shortly after being taken to hospital.

The complaint argues the "genocide" allegation is based on the air strike being part of a larger Israeli project to "eliminate the Palestinian population and submit it to living conditions of a nature to entail the destruction of their group".

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Though formally against unnamed parties, the complaint explicitly targets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government and the military.

French nationals have also found themselves under investigation for their alleged involvement in Israel's Gaza campaign.

French anti-terror prosecutors have opened a probe into "complicity in genocide" and "incitement to genocide" over French-Israelis suspected of having blocked aid intended for war-torn Gaza, a source close to the case said Friday.

The investigation comes after the Jewish French Union for Peace (UFJP) and a French-Palestinian victim filed a legal complaint in November, levelling accusations of "organising, participating in and calling for the participation in concrete activities to block humanitarian aid" for Gaza, "including physically preventing the passage of trucks at border checkpoints controlled by the Israeli army".

Mother convicted

The children's brother Omar 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 "terrorist" group over distributing money in Gaza to members of Palestinian militant groups Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Hamas-run Gaza has killed 54,677 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry there, figures the United Nations deems reliable.

No court has so far ruled the ongoing conflict is a genocide.

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But in rulings in January, March and May 2024, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest judicial organ, told Israel to do everything possible to "prevent" acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrests against Netanyahu and ex-defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the October 7 attack, but the case against him was dropped in February after confirmation Israel had killed him.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan initially sought warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh as well, but dropped those applications after their deaths in Israeli attacks.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)