France opens 'complicity in genocide' probes over blocked Gaza aid
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.
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 said on Friday.
They are the first known investigations in France to be looking into alleged violations of international law in Gaza, 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.
The probes were opened after two separate legal complaints.
In the first, the Jewish French Union for Peace 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.
At the time, far-right Israeli protesters - including friends and relatives of captives held in Gaza - blocked aid trucks from entering Gaza and forced them to turn back.
A second complaint from a group called the Lawyers for Justice in the Middle East accused members of "Israel is forever" of having blocked aid trucks.
It used photos, videos and public statements to back up its complaint.
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.
Reporting by AFP