PARIS, Nov. 7 — The International Federation for Human Rights says French judges have opened a war-crimes inquiry into a 2024 Beirut apartment bombing that killed at least seven civilians.
FIDH said Nov. 3 that two judges from France’s War Crimes Unit were appointed to examine whether the attack involved directing violence at a civilian object. Cherri and FIDH filed a civil-party complaint in April 2026. The organization’s announcement names no suspect and reports no arrest warrant or finding of guilt.
The strike hit a 12-story building in Beirut’s Nouweiri neighborhood on Nov. 26, 2024, killing at least seven civilians, including Cherri’s parents, according to Amnesty International. Amnesty said its investigation found no effective warning for the neighborhood and no evidence of a military objective at the site. It also said the Israeli military had not identified a military target after the attack or answered its questions before publication. Amnesty called for the strike to be investigated as a possible war crime; its findings are not a court ruling.
FIDH says Cherri’s French-Lebanese nationality gives French courts a basis to investigate the alleged bombing of the apartment he owned. The group says French authorities cannot pursue a separate willful-killing charge because the victims covered by that charge were not French nationals. The case’s scope, as FIDH describes it, centers on the alleged attack against the apartment.
Article 122 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure allows investigating judges to issue arrest warrants when serious or consistent evidence makes it plausible that someone participated in an offense. FIDH says the judges can collect evidence through hearings and expert reports. Its announcement reports no warrant in this case.
Cherri said it was “essential that this investigation establish responsibility.” Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s regional director, called the case a “rare and vital avenue” for truth and accountability. FIDH said it knew of no earlier judicial investigation in France into alleged Israeli army crimes in Lebanon since October 2023. The sources identify no next scheduled court decision.
