The Story of Two Grandchildren May Reopen the Genocide File in Gaza… Will France Take Action?

6th June 2025

2 minutes read

The Story of Two Grandchildren May Reopen the Genocide File in Gaza… Will France Take Action?

A complaint has been filed in France against persons unknown, targeting Israel for murder and genocide. The case was brought by a grandmother who claims that Israeli authorities are responsible for the deaths of her two French grandchildren in Gaza in October 2023.

Her lawyer, Arié Alimi, told AFP that the complaint seeks the appointment of an investigating judge and is expected to be supported by the Human Rights League (LDH).

The 48-page complaint concerns the deaths of Janna and Abd al-Rahim Abu Daher, aged 6 and 9, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on October 24, 2023, 17 days after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel. Their French nationality could prompt the French judiciary to examine the genocide allegations, which Israel vehemently denies and deems “outrageous.”

The complaint was filed by Jacqueline Rivaud, the children’s maternal grandmother and a resident of France, citing charges of murder, attempted murder, crimes against humanity, genocide, and complicity in both crimes.

According to the complaint, the “massive violence” and “systematic bombing” by the Israeli army in Gaza following October 7, 2023, forced the family to take shelter in a house in northern Gaza. That house, the complaint claims, was struck by two missiles launched by an Israeli F-16 fighter jet.

The children’s mother, Yasmine Z., who was also injured along with her third child (both still in Gaza), was convicted in absentia in 2019 by a Paris criminal court for terrorism financing, specifically for distributing funds to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad between 2012 and 2013. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.

The complaint alleges that the bombing was part of a deliberate plan to eliminate the Palestinian population and to subject them to living conditions that could lead to the destruction of their group.

Though filed against unknown persons, the complaint explicitly names Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with members of his cabinet and the Israeli military.