France opens 'war crime' probe over Israel ill-treatment of Gaza flotilla activists
France has opened a probe into a "war crime" and "torture" over Israel's ill-treatment of French activists who were on board a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a prosecutor's office says.
On Friday, the national counterterrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) said the investigation was opened at the Paris government's request, after activists accused Israeli authorities of mistreatment after they were abducted last month.
Israel abducted more than 430 activists from several countries around the world, who participated in the flotilla with the aim of breaking the Israeli blockade on Gaza and deliver aid to the Palestinian people, during an attack on the ships in international waters on May 18.
Israel's extremist minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked widespread condemnation after he posted a video mocking the abducted activists while they were kneeling in tightly packed rows with their hands restrained by zip ties.
France banned Ben Gvir from entry over the incident.
Several French activists described what a violent and humiliating ordeal when eight of them returned to France on May 22.
Two of the more than 30 French people who took part in the flotilla were still in hospital in Turkey, they told reporters.
Hüseyin Oral, activist onboard the Global Sumud aid flotilla, says he was brutally beaten and robbed of his money by Israeli soldiers while in detention.
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One returnee described an Israeli soldier groping and slapping her in a dark container, and being terrified that she would be raped.
Another recounted abducted activists being put in what she called a "stress position," on their knees with their foreheads on the ground for several hours, while Israel’s so-called “national anthem” played on repeat.
Francesca Albanese, an outspoken UN expert on the Palestinian territories, has said the treatment of the flotilla activists "is a luxury compared to what is inflicted on Palestinians in Israeli prisons".
Late in April, Israeli naval forces also targeted vessels from the Global Sumud Flotilla’s Spring 2026 mission, which aimed to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza and deliver essential aid, off the coast of Greece in the Mediterranean Sea, kidnapping dozens of activists.
The Global Sumud Flotilla confirmed that international activists abducted during the April 26 raid have been subjected to sexual violence, physical assaults and degrading treatment while in Israeli custody.
A similar operation in October saw Israeli forces intercept around 40 flotilla boats, detaining more than 450 participants, including the grandson of South African leader Nelson Mandela, Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg and European Parliament member Rima Hassan.
Some of those detained later reported physical and psychological abuse in custody. The regime subsequently deported the activists.
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