A view of destroyed buildings is pictured in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
According to a lawyer representing the NGOs that filed a legal complaint last year, it is the first time a country has considered the blocking of aid as possible “complicity in genocide.”
The warrants were issued in July for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP, following a French media report.
The warrants call for the two to appear before an investigating magistrate, but do not require their detention.
The pair are accused of attempting to block aid trucks entering Gaza between January and November 2024, as well as in May last year at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom frontier posts.
They are also suspected of “public provocation for genocide” by calling for aid to be prevented from reaching Gaza, the source said.
Another source close to the investigation said warrants could be issued for approximately 10 other people.
The complaints were filed last year by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the rights groups Al-Haq and Al-Mezan. Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for the groups, said it was the first investigation of its kind under genocide law.
Other legal complaints in France have targeted war crimes, including the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Gaza during an Israeli bombing raid, and two Franco-Israeli soldiers who took part in Israel’s genocidal war on the territory.
Another complaint concerns the Hamas attack in October 2023.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented Israel’s actions — including mass killings, aid blockages, and forced displacement — as meeting the legal threshold for genocide under the 1948 Convention.
In January 2024, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark ruling confirming a plausible risk of genocide, ordering Israel to halt such acts and lift its blockade of the Palestinian Strip.
In parallel, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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