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A Lebanese-French artist has filed a legal complaint in France seeking a war crimes investigation into an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut apartment building that killed seven civilians, including his parents, hours before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect in November 2024.

The complaint, lodged with France's specialised war crimes unit, was filed on Thursday by artist Ali Cherri and the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), according to multiple sources. It targets unknown perpetrators over the strike in Beirut's Noueiri neighbourhood at around 5:30pm on 26 November, 2024.

Cherri's parents, Mahmoud Naib Cherri, 86 (or 88 per some reports), and Nadira Hayek, 76 (or 78), were killed along with domestic worker Birki Negesa and at least four other residents. The attack destroyed Cherri's ninth-floor apartment and damaged flats on the seventh and eighth floors.

Coverage Comparison

The story was covered by The Guardian, Jerusalem Post, and RFI, each with slightly different emphases. The Guardian framed the complaint as a rare instance of an individual pursuing war crimes charges for an Israeli bombing, and the first time a French court has taken a case over Israel's bombing of Lebanon. The Jerusalem Post focused on Cherri's background as a prominent artist and his statement, while RFI reported the complaint as a request for a war crimes investigation, citing Amnesty International's finding that no military target was evident.

While all three sources reported the core facts consistently, The Guardian provided additional context about broader accusations of war crimes and genocide against Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, a framing not present in the other two sources. RFI noted that the complaint draws on analysis by Forensic Architecture and documentation from Amnesty International, which the Jerusalem Post also mentioned but with less detail.

Key Claims

  • A war crimes complaint was filed in France on 2 April 2026 (some sources say Thursday, 3 April) by Ali Cherri and FIDH, targeting unknown perpetrators over the strike.
  • The airstrike on the Noueiri neighbourhood of Beirut on 26 November 2024 killed seven civilians, including Cherri's parents and a domestic worker.
  • No effective evacuation warning was given to civilians before the strike, according to Amnesty International's investigation.
  • Amnesty International said its investigation found no evidence of a military target in or near the building at the time of the strike and recommended the attack be investigated as a war crime.
  • The strike occurred hours before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on 26 November 2024.
  • Renewed fighting between Israel and Lebanon has killed 1,318 people so far (as reported by The Guardian).
  • Cherri's work has been featured in prominent galleries including the Guggenheim and Tate Modern (as reported by Jerusalem Post).

Perspectives

Complaint and Amnesty International's position

The complaint argues that bombing a civilian building could amount to a war crime under French law and international humanitarian law. Amnesty International stated that its investigation found no evidence of a military target and that civilians received no effective advance warning, and it called for the attack to be investigated as a war crime.

Ali Cherri's statement

In a statement quoted by multiple outlets, Cherri said: "Our demand is that an investigation is opened so that we know for a fact what happened, to name this attack as a war crime against civilians, and hopefully being able to name the people responsible for this." He also said, "Justice cannot undo death, but seeking justice means refusing to let impunity lead to the destruction of other lives."

Legal and institutional support

The complaint is backed by FIDH, whose lawyer Clémence Bectarte commented on the case. Amnesty International's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef, said that if prosecutors open an investigation, it would offer "a rare opportunity to examine Israel's actions in a European court, given the general impunity it usually enjoys." No official response from Israeli authorities has been reported in the available sources.