French judicial authorities have launched an investigation into two Franco-Israeli citizens on suspicion of “complicity in genocide,” following allegations that they attempted to obstruct humanitarian assistance destined for war-torn Gaza, a legal source said on Monday.
A lawyer representing the rights groups that filed the complaint last year said this marks the first known case in which preventing humanitarian aid has been examined under genocide-related legal provisions.
According to sources close to the inquiry, arrest warrants were issued in July 2025 against Nili Kupfer-Naouri, affiliated with the Israel Is Forever movement, and Rachel Touitou, a member of the Tsav 9 group. The warrants require them to appear before an investigating judge but do not mandate their arrest.
Investigators allege that the two activists sought to block relief convoys entering Gaza between January and November 2024, as well as during protests in May at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom border crossings.
Kupfer-Naouri’s lawyer, Olivier Pardo, defended the actions as non-violent protests intended to denounce what he described as the diversion of humanitarian aid by Hamas and other militant groups involved in the October 7, 2023 attacks that triggered the Gaza conflict.
In a social media post, 34-year-old Touitou said that if peaceful demonstrations against what she called the misuse of aid constitute a crime, then France would be abandoning democratic principles.
Kupfer-Naouri, 50, described the investigation as “an expression of anti-Semitic insanity” in an interview with The News website. Her lawyer confirmed she is currently in Israel but is willing to cooperate with French investigators from there.
Judicial sources also said the two are being examined for possible “public incitement to genocide” over statements calling for aid deliveries to Gaza to be halted. Another source indicated that warrants could eventually be issued for around ten additional individuals.
The legal complaints were submitted last year by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, along with rights organisations Al-Haq and Al-Mezan. Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for the groups, said the case represents an unprecedented application of genocide law.
French courts are also handling separate complaints alleging war crimes over the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Israeli air strikes in Gaza, as well as cases involving two Franco-Israeli soldiers accused of taking part in military operations there. Another legal complaint concerns the Hamas attack that sparked the war.
