The French judiciary is looking into Exxilia, a French arms manufacturer, over the possibility of war crimes having been committed using its weapons systems. The investigation is in relation to the killing of three Palestinian children at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza nine years ago.

The children, Fella, 8, Wassim, 9, and Jihad Shuhaiber, 10, were feeding pigeons on the roof of their home in the north of the Gaza Strip before a rocket fired from an Israeli drone hit them and abruptly ended their lives at these young ages. The tragedy also saw their cousins Bassel, 9, and Uday, 16, suffering serious injuries and being taken to the hospital.

The killing of the Palestinian children took place on July 17, 2014, amid an Israeli terror campaign against the Palestinian territory, which had kicked off ten days earlier. The operation was dubbed "Protective Edge", and it saw an onslaught of aggression from the Israeli occupation on Gaza for nearly two months. At least 2,310 Palestinians were killed in the process.

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The Shuhaiber family filed in 2016 a complaint against Exxilia Technologies, a corporation that had one of the components used in the missile that the IOF killed the little children with. Today, the case is finally saying the light of day as the company is being probed over its partaking in a war crime.

Various humanitarian organizations that were able to go there discovered, among the debris of the missile fired at the house, an electronic component manufactured by the French arms corporation. It was a Hall effect sensor made by Eurofarad, the former name of Exxelia Technologies.

"The French arms industry can no longer evade its moral and legal responsibility. Selling material that is used to commit war crimes must be severely punished," said Ingrid Metton, the plaintiff's counsel at the time.

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"Away from the Exxelia case, we call on France, which played a leading role in the development and adoption of the arms trade treaty, to show responsibility," said Helene Legeay of the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture.

The Shuheibar building was hit, just before breaking the fast, "in a neighborhood where there was never a bombardment" because "there was not the slightest military objective," Joseph Breham, the family's lawyer, told AFP. "It's a war crime," he added, rejecting the hypothesis of an error because "it is very complicated to confuse kids with over-armed soldiers."

The Shuheibar family's complaint is "emblematic", underlined the lawyer. For the first time, the practices of the Israeli occupation forces and the accountability of arms manufacturers are being brought into question before the French judiciary, he added.

Arms dealers are accountable for the use of their weapons when they could not fail to ignore that war crimes were being committed using their product, the French lawyer added.

He went on to call for an end to the impunity of arms dealers and for the application of the Arms Trade Treaty providing for the banning of exports or the review of authorizations when clients are suspected of committing war crimes.

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An annual Parliamentary report said French arms exports reached a record high of 27 billion euros in 2022, with the Near and Middle East region representing 64% of total orders.

In July, Uday Shuhaiber, accompanied by his parents, uncle, and cousin Bassel, traveled to France to present their case before the investigating judge.

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Shuhaiber expressed his excitement, stating that he couldn't sleep the night before the trip, knowing that they would finally have the opportunity to claim their rights.

"I sustained my injury at the age of 16, and now I'm 25. All these years have been wasted," Uday Shuhaiber lamented.

Bassel, who suffered a severe skull injury, emphasized why they were seeking help in France. "We came here seeking a solution and a cure. In Gaza, we lack essential medical resources, and I still have shrapnel in my body from the shell." The Israeli occupation has a harsh blockade in place on the Gaza Strip that even includes medical equipment.

Bassel and Uday provided detailed accounts of their injuries and the lasting impact they have had on their lives.

Uday has a large scar on his abdomen, and shrapnel remains embedded in his left arm, with injuries sustained in his legs. He conveyed how deeply this issue has affected him, saying, "It has affected me a lot, and it has completely devastated me."

After more than 15 years since the blockade "Israel" imposed on Gaza in June 2007, crippling its vital sectors, Britain-based NGO Save the Children released a report on the toll the suffocating blockade has had on Gaza children. 

In the report called "Trapped", the NGO said since 2018, the number of those reporting symptoms of "depression, grief, and fear" has risen from 55 to 80%.

Jason Lee, Save the Children's Director for occupied Palestine, said the children they spoke to in the making of this report described living "in a perpetual state of fear, worry, sadness and grief."

These children were constantly waiting "for the next round of violence to erupt, and feeling unable to sleep or concentrate." Their distress has also manifested in physical symptoms, like bedwetting, the loss of the ability to speak, or even complete basic tasks, which he described as "shocking" and something that should serve as "a wakeup call to the international community."

Save the Children also said children constitute around half of the 2.1 million people living in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, around 800,000 youths have "never known life without the blockade."

In a statement marking the anniversary of the blockade in 2022, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said "Israel" "has turned Gaza into an open-air prison." HRW's Director for Palestine and the occupied territories, Omar Shakir, told AFP that young people face the "brunt of the blockade because they don't know of a Gaza before the closure."