Artist Ali Cherri files landmark complaint over Israeli airstrike on his family home in Beirut

Franco-Lebanese artist and filmmaker Ali Cherri has filed a civil complaint before France’s War Crimes Unit against Israel, alongside the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Filed on 2 April, the complaint concerns a November 2024 strike on Cherri’s family home in the densely populated Noueiri neighbourhood of central Beirut, which killed seven civilians — among them his parents, Mahmoud Naim Cherri and Nadira Hayek, and their domestic worker, Birki Negesa, who had arrived in Lebanon a month prior.

The attack took place just hours before a ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hezbollah, following 13 months of Israeli aggression in Lebanon. No evacuation warnings were issued prior to the strike. Israel has since neither identified a military target nor explained why advance warning to civilians was not feasible. To this day, the family home remains in ruins. 

According to an open-source investigation by Amnesty International published in February 2026, which informed Cherri’s complaint, the strike was one of at least four separate Israeli airstrikes meeting the threshold for international war crimes against civilians.

The complaint also draws on an investigation by Forensic Architecture, a London-based research group affiliated with Goldsmiths, University of London. Using satellite imagery, witness testimonies and video footage, the organisation reconstructed the strike that killed Cherri’s parents, concluding that the targeted building was almost certainly residential and had no discernible military purpose at the time of the attack.

In a statement via FIDH, Cherri said, “This is only the beginning of a long legal process. It will not be easy. But I felt it was my duty, as a son, a citizen, and a victim, to document, to bear witness, and to ensure that those responsible for this war crime are named and held accountable.”  

Meanwhile, in a response to the complaint, Heba Morayef, the regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said that “If War Crimes Unit prosecutors open an investigation into this complaint, this would offer a rare opportunity to examine Israel’s actions in a European court, given the general impunity it usually enjoys.” Amnesty International also noted that the strike is part of a clear, growing pattern of Israeli violations against civilian buildings in Lebanon since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in October 2023.

With the US-Israeli attack on Iran, since 2 March 2026, Israel’s wanton violence in Lebanon has intensified significantly across the country. Marked by sustained airstrikes against civilian infrastructure, ground invasion and mass evacuation orders in a continued violation of multiple international laws. 

According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, as of 1 April, the renewed offensive has killed 1,318 people,  including 125 children and 91 women, wounded a further 3,935, and displaced more than 1.2 million people.

While a ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran came into effect today, 8 April, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated explicitly that it does not extend to Israel’s ongoing assault on Lebanon. 

Today alone, Israel has fired 100 airstrikes targeting over 100 sites in Lebanon, all within the span of 10 minutes. The strikes hit nearly all parts of the country, including the capital, Beirut, and its suburbs of Dahiyeh, Aramoun, Bchamoun, Zahle, Saida, Baalbek and Kayfoun.