One was filed Tuesday by the French Jewish Union for Peace (UFJP) and “a Franco-Palestinian victim.”
In this complaint, also revealed by Le Monde, the plaintiffs, supported by the organization Urgence Palestine, denounce “the organization, participation and call to participate in concrete actions to block humanitarian aid to the territory occupied Gaza, in particular by physically preventing the passage of trucks at border crossings controlled by the Israeli army.
“This deliberate submission of the Gazan population to conditions of existence likely to bring about its destruction, and more particularly the use of famine, characterizes, both according to international law and according to French law, the crime of genocide,” support the plaintiffs in a press release.
“If the legal qualification of genocide may be shocking, it is here the most appropriate in view of the facts committed (…). It is essential to name precisely what is happening,” commented their lawyers, Mes Damia Taharraoui and Marion Lafouge with AFP.
Their complaint with civil party for complicity in genocide and incitement to the commission of genocide targets figures from Israel is forever and Tzav-9, pro-Israel associations, presented as having French nationality.
A second complaint with the constitution of a civil party, consulted by AFP, was filed on Wednesday by the association Lawyers for Justice in the Middle East and the Coordination of Appeals for a Just Peace in the Middle East (CAPJPO) – Europalestine, for “complicity in genocide”.
Relying in particular on photos, videos and public statements, they also accuse officials of Israel is Forever of having blocked humanitarian vehicles.
“The offense of complicity in genocide appears to be the fairest criminal expression to qualify the facts (…). We must now hope that the French courts will find the courage to investigate under this qualification”, commented to AFP the lawyers of the associations, Messrs Matteo Bonaglia and Ala Adas.
Complaints with civil party status aim to be brought before an investigating judge.
In mid-November, a special UN committee affirmed that the war methods used by Israel in the Gaza Strip, in response to the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, “correspond to the characteristics of a genocide”.
On January 26, the International Court of Justice asked Israel to do its utmost to prevent any act of genocide during its military operations.
Israel strongly contests these accusations, asserts its “right to defend its population” and accuses Hamas of using civilians as “human shields”.
In September, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) closed a complaint from associations denouncing torture attributed to a Franco-Israeli on men presented as Palestinian prisoners.
The Pnat, on the other hand, has long opened an investigation into terrorist assassinations relating to the October 7 attack.
“No investigation has been opened at this stage” concerning possible victims of Israeli strikes in Gaza or Lebanon, Pnat told AFP at the beginning of October.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on November 21 against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the head of Hamas's armed wing Mohammed Deif for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Asked at the beginning of the week, the Pnat indicated that it had “no new information to communicate” regarding the consequences of the ICC decision on French procedures.
