The probe in France comes as international pressure grows on Israel to increase the flow of aid into Gaza amid fears of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel’s months-long bombing campaign and blockade has severely restricted access to food, water and medicine for civilians in the Palestinian enclave.
While Israel has framed its actions as legitimate self-defense following the militant group Hamas’ terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023, international organizations and rights groups have accused Israel of committing war crimes during the conflict that ensued.
Some NGOs and world leaders have accused Israel of committing genocide, though most major Western democracies — including France — have not gone that far. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed allegations of genocide as “false and outrageous.”
It’s unclear exactly how many people have been killed in Gaza. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says more than 54,000 people have died in the conflict, though the ministry does not distinguish between militants and civilians. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of inflating those numbers, but a major study published in January by The Lancet found the death toll had at that point crossed over to higher than 64,000, with the majority of the victims women, children and the elderly.
Rory O’Neill contributed to this report.