Thirty-one French nationals who joined an aid flotilla to Gaza plan to file a criminal complaint in France over what they describe as arbitrary detention and mistreatment in Israel. The Global Sumud Flotilla was stopped by the Israeli navy before reaching the Palestinian territory. One of the French participants told RFI about the conditions inside the prison where they were held.
“We were treated like animals,” said Yacine Haffaf, a French surgeon. “It was three and a half days of daily humiliation, intimidation and abuse.”
Haffaf, 69, heads Waves of Freedom, which led the French contingent of the Global Sumud Flotilla. He was on board Jeannot III, one of the vessels intercepted by the Israeli military on 3 October, and among the 31 French citizens later expelled to Athens.
“Soldiers would suddenly storm into our cell when we were sleeping, pointing guns with green laser dots at us and ordering us into a corner,” he said. “We realised after a while that they didn’t intend to shoot but wanted to terrify us.”
The Global Sumud Flotilla left Barcelona in September to challenge Israel’s blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The mission involved 42 boats carrying 462 civilians from 57 countries.
Most of the activists have since been released from Ketziot, a high-security prison in Israel’s Negev desert. The facility is mainly used to detain Palestinians accused by Israel of terrorist activity.
Israel said the flotilla’s “true goal was provocation in the service of Hamas, not humanitarian assistance”.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the participants “terrorists” in a video shared online.
He said he is “proud that the flotilla activists are being treated as terrorists”. In a second video, he said that they should not be sent home immediately.
“I think we must keep them in Israeli prison for a few months so they can get a taste of the terrorist wing,” he added.
French lawyers representing those expelled from Israel said legal proceedings are under way.
“We will file, in the coming weeks, a criminal complaint to the French public prosecutor for arbitrary detention and mistreatment of the French nationals who were in the Global Sumud Flotilla,” said Lucie Simon, one of five lawyers representing them.
Gaza flotilla boarded by Israeli navy amid calls to lift blockade
Claims of abuse in custody
Haffaf said the detainees were denied essential medicine.
“One of our comrades suffered an asthma attack. We hammered on the cell door to demand medicine, but it only came 48 hours later,” he said. “Despite the inhumane treatment, we refused to bow down and would chant ‘Free Palestine’ to the soldiers.”
Several other activists described similar treatment. Tabea Zaug, a Swiss national, said detainees were treated differently depending on their skin colour and passport.
“I have white skin, blue eyes, I have a Swiss passport. They treated me much better than other passengers on board,” she said after her release.
Zaheera Soomar, a South African activist, said her hijab was forcibly removed and she was stripped naked in front of Israeli soldiers. The South African group said they received harsher treatment than others.
French activist Lyna Altabal said dogs were released into the cell where she was held. French–Palestinian Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament for France Unbowed (LFI), told RFI she was beaten by soldiers.
French nationals on Gaza aid flotilla deported from Israel, sent to Greece
Shahd Hammouri, a lecturer in international law at the University of Kent, said Israel’s actions were illegal.
“The humiliating mistreatment of civilians illegally detained in an Israeli prison is a violation of their human rights and of the torture convention,” she told RFI.
Hammouri added that Israel acted unlawfully by seizing the ships in international waters and transferring the detainees to Israeli territory. “Israel does not have the authority to cross the borders with them,” she said.
“Under the law of occupation, you should never hold people you catch outside the territory where you caught them.”
She also rejected Israel’s claim that Palestine has no recognised borders.
“The International Criminal Court, one of the highest courts in the world, rejected these claims in a 2021 judgment and confirmed that Palestine is a sovereign state under international law,” Hammouri said.
Return to Greece
Thirty-one French nationals were expelled from Israel to Greece on 6 October. During their detention, they received consular protection from the French government.
A French diplomatic source said the Consulate General in Tel Aviv stayed in contact with Israeli authorities and the families of those detained. In Athens, consular staff met the group at the airport to help arrange their return home.
The source said officials helped them find flights, contact relatives, and, if needed, book accommodation for the night.
But Haffaf disputed this account.
“They brought chocolates and protein bars and explained that the French government would not pay for the plane fare to Paris,” he said.
“We were left to fend for ourselves in Greece. Thank God for the wonderfully generous Greeks who came to greet us with music at the airport.”
He said Greek supporters brought food and clothes, since the group was still wearing prison uniforms, and hosted them overnight. “We had nothing, no money, no phone, nothing,” he said.
“It is true that we knew the risks, but I thought our government would step forward and take care of us in our hour of need.”
Possible action against France
Lawyer Simon said that her team is considering taking the French state before the administrative court of justice for failing to protect French citizens wrongfully arrested in international waters and arbitrarily detained in an Israeli prison.
She argued that the government should have done more.
“Consular protection means protection before their arrests, protection through diplomatic channels or by sending a vessel like Spain and Italy to escort the flotilla and more specifically the French nationals,” she said.
Warning them of the risks before they travelled to Gaza is not enough, she added.
She compared the government’s stance to what she called “the short skirt theory”.
“You’re wearing a short skirt, so you know that you might get raped. It’s the same theory. I cannot understand that a state bound by international law can behave like that towards its citizens,” Simon said.
Meanwhile, MEP Rima Hassan is calling for strikes and blockades – similar to those in Italy and Spain – to increase pressure on the French government over its response to events in Palestine.
Looking ahead
Back in Paris, Haffaf – who has carried out humanitarian work in conflict zones such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen – said that while he usually manages to return to normal life after a mission, this time is different.
"I am completely exhausted, both mentally and emotionally. It has been a roller coaster of emotions. Staring down the barrel of a gun is not the same as operating under bombs in Gaza,” he said.
Like most of the activists, he plans to volunteer again.
“This mission created a huge impact in mobilising the hearts and minds of citizens across the world,” he said. “We may not have succeeded in breaking the blockade this time, but we opened a way. We mobilised more people and more resources for future flotillas to Gaza.”
