France has opened an investigation into an alleged “war crime” as well as “torture” over Israel’s treatment of French citizens who took part in the recent Gaza-bound activist flotilla, a prosecutor’s office said Friday.
The probe was opened at the government’s request, the national counterterrorism prosecutor’s office (PNAT) said, after activists accused Israeli authorities of mistreatment during their detention last month.
Israel detained more than 430 activists from countries around the world after intercepting them in international waters beginning on May 18 as they made the latest in a string of attempts to break Israel’s blockade of the territory.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir then sparked widespread condemnation, both in Israel and abroad, after he posted a video mocking the flotilla activists while they were bound and kneeling.
France was one of multiple countries to ban Ben Gvir from entry over the incident.
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Several French activists described what they said was a violent and humiliating ordeal when eight of them returned to France on May 22. Two of the more than 30 French citizens who were on board the flotilla were still hospitalized in Turkey, they told reporters.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir taunts detained flotilla activists at Ashdod Port on May 20, 2026. (Screen grab/Ben Gvir’s X account)
One returnee described a soldier groping and slapping her in a dark container, and being terrified that she would be raped.
Another recounted detained activists being put in what she called a “stress position,” on their knees with their foreheads on the ground for several hours, while the Israeli national anthem played on repeat.
The Israel Prison Service has previously denied the flotilla activists’ claims of abuse, saying all of those detained were held “in accordance with the law, with full regard for their basic rights,” and received necessary and professional medical care.
Asked by AFP to respond to the claims of physical and psychological violence, sexual harassment, assault and rape, the Israel Prison Service said the accusations were “entirely without factual basis.”
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