France’s specialized war crimes unit has officially opened an investigation into a 2024 Israeli airstrike on Beirut that killed seven civilians, including the family of French Lebanese artist Ali Cherri. According to the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), who lodged the initial civil complaint with Cherri in April, the case marks the first international judicial investigation into Israeli crimes committed in Lebanon since the present conflict began in 2023.

On November 26, 2024, a strike hit a residential building in Beirut’s Noueiri neighborhood, destroying Cherri’s ninth-floor apartment. It killed his parents, Nadira Hayek and Mahmoud Naim Cherri, as well as their domestic helper, Birki Negesa. The seventh and eighth floors were also destroyed, claiming four other lives. The strike came hours before a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. 

In February 2026, Amnesty International released a report stating that the Israeli military did not ascertain any verifiable evidence of a military target at the site of the strike, and failed to issue an effective evacuation warning to residents. Forensic Architecture, a London-based investigative agency commissioned by Cherri and FIDH, corroborated these findings by digitally reconstructing the site from witness documentation.

Investigating judges from the war crimes unit will assess whether the Israeli military intentionally targeted a civilian structure, an act that would constitute a war crime. France’s jurisdiction in this case rests on Cherri’s dual French and Lebanese citizenship, as none of the deceased victims held French nationality. The inquiry is therefore limited to the destruction of his apartment, under charges of “intentionally directing an attack against a civilian object.” 

Cherri described the investigation as an “important step in our fight against impunity and our struggle for justice for those who were killed.” In a statement, he said, “For my family and me, it is essential that this investigation establish responsibility, and ensure that those who ordered and carried out this bombing are held accountable for their actions.”