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torture
France Asks Top Prosecutor to Probe Alleged Israeli Abuse of Gaza Flotilla Members
French nationals and people from dozens of countries who were abducted from the Global Sumud Flotilla say they were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted by their Israeli captors.
May 29, 2026
France's government on Friday asked prosecutors to investigate Israel's alleged mistreatment of French nationals aboard the last Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted earlier this month in international waters while trying to break the illegal decadeslong Israeli blockade of Gaza.
“Based on a report I requested from our Consul General in Turkey—who informed me of sexual violence, exposure to the cold, beatings, and repeated humiliation of French nationals—all of these acts are likely to constitute criminal offenses," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said during an interview with France Inter, adding, "I decided yesterday to refer the matter to the public prosecutor."
The move follows France's indefinite ban from its territory of far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who posted a video on social media showing him joyfully humiliating detained activists, journalists, and others who were mostly kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs and their foreheads forced to the ground following the May 18 interception of flotilla vessels off the coast of Cyprus and the abduction of all aboard.
“We cannot tolerate that French nationals can be threatened, intimidated, or brutalized in this way—all the more so by a public official," Barrot said last week.
People from around 40 countries—including 37 French nationals—were seized from dozens of flotilla vessels and held in harsh conditions on what many of them called a "torture boat."
According to Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF): "Detained humanitarians, doctors, and journalists were processed one by one through a darkened shipping container. Inside, groups of three to five soldiers systematically brutalized each person who came through the door while those waiting outside listened to the screams.”
French medical professional Meriem Hadjal said she was "subjected to torture" in the container, where at least one Israeli soldier allegedly sexually assaulted her.
"We were treated like animals," Hadjal added, accusing her Israeli captors of "sadism."
GSF said Tuesday that "legal proceedings are now active in Turkey, Italy, and Spain, with Italian prosecutors opening an investigation into kidnapping and sexual assault" of flotilla members.
Numerous national governments condemned Israel's treatment of the flotilla abductees, including the United States. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that Ben-Gvir "betrayed the dignity" of his nation, which receives billions of dollars in annual armed aid and diplomatic cover from the United States to carry out what many experts say is a genocidal war on Gaza.
Malaysia is reportedly preparing to initiate proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the abduction and alleged torture of its citizens, 29 of whom were aboard the flotilla. The ICJ is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa and formally supported by nearly 20 nations.
“We will not remain silent, we will not stop. While the legal team gathers all documentation on violations of international law; they were kidnapped more than once, they were tortured,” Amirudin Shari, chief minister of the Malaysian state of Selangor, said during a homecoming ceremony for the flotilla members at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Israeli troops have physically and psychologically tortured past flotilla abductees. Dozens of members of the previous Global Sumud mission required medical attention for broken ribs, noses, and other injuries inflicted by Israeli forces. In 2010, Israeli troops killed nine activists aboard one of the first-ever Gaza flotillas, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.
As some countries pursue justice for flotilla members, others have declined to act. In the United Kingdom, Zarah Sultana, who represents Coventry South for the socialist Your Party in Parliament, is demanding "urgent action" in the wake of abuse allegations made by British flotilla abductees.
"France is acting. Spain is showing leadership. Where is the UK government?" Sultana said Friday on X. "Nothing but a simp for Israel, a genocidal apartheid state."
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Global Sumud Flotilla Urges Probe of US Complicity in Members' Abduction and Torture by Israel
"The torture of US citizens and humanitarian volunteers with American-made tools... is the direct outcome of unconditional US support for a regime continuously committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
May 26, 2026
Testimonies published Tuesday from activists, journalists, medical professionals, and others who took part in the latest international flotilla attempting to break Israel's genocidal siege of Gaza called for an investigation into US complicity in their illegal high-seas abduction and alleged torture, sexual assault, and other abuse by Israeli forces.
"As testimonies from the 428 participants illegally kidnapped by the Israeli regime continue to surface, the United States' critical role in the abuses and torture of humanitarian volunteers and journalists has become undeniable," Global Sumud Flotilla's (GSF) media team said in a statement.
"This role goes beyond the State Department’s diplomatic shielding and the US Embassy’s refusal to assist American families seeking information," GSF continued. "It includes the very ship on which volunteer participants were illegally detained and tortured, and the weapons used to inflict life-threatening trauma against them."
That vessel, the amphibious landing ship INS Nahshon, was built by Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding in Louisiana and was fully financed by the US government. GSF activists first became aware of what they now call the "torture boat" when it was used to detain members of the previous Gaza-bound flotilla, dozens of whom required medical attention for broken ribs, noses, and other injuries inflicted by Israeli forces.
This time, according to GSF, "detained humanitarians, doctors, and journalists were processed one by one through a darkened shipping container. Inside, groups of three to five soldiers systematically brutalized each person who came through the door while those waiting outside listened to the screams."
Flotilla participant Yassine Benjelloun described his mistreatment by his Israeli captors.
"All of a sudden I hear, 'Welcome to Israel.' And I start getting hit, like first hit on the head, second hit in the ribs, then I fall, then they kick me," he said. "What lasts maybe three or five minutes seems like a lifetime. You don't know that the door is going to open, and they're going to kick you out."
Dr. Jihan Alya Mohd Nordin, a Malaysian physician aboard the flotilla, documented 35 GSF members with fractured or dislocated bones, as well as severe head injuries including concussions and eye or ear trauma, and 14 cases of sexual assault.
"Being a doctor, the main aim is to reduce the sufferings of people," Jihan said. "But when we cannot do anything to help them, it was the worst and most horrible feeling that I have. It was so devastating."
Jihan said she was shoved, struck, punched, kicked, and choked by her captors, who forcibly stripped off her hijab.
In addition to the ship, the weapons used against the civilian flotilla members were also made in the USA.
"Stun grenades and metal-bearing projectile rounds were identified by manufacturer markings as products of Combined Tactical Systems (CTS), a brand of the Jamestown, Pennsylvania-based weapons manufacturer Combined Systems Inc. (CSI)," GSF said. "These weapons were fired at close range in enclosed spaces against participants who were sitting down or trying to sleep, a direct violation of the manufacturer’s own usage guidelines."
GSF argues that "none of this was accidental."
According to former State Department official Josh Paul—who resigned in protest in 2023 over US arms transfers to Israel as it began waging a genocidal war against Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack of October 7 of that year—"Under US law, arms transfers must only be made for purposes authorized by law."
"INS Nahshon's use by Israel to conduct an illegal seizure in international waters, and then to act as a base for the torture and sexual assault of foreign civilians, including Americans, who had broken no laws, and were acting from conscience to serve an urgent humanitarian need, plainly and grievously violates those terms," he continued.
"When this sale was authorized, US officials will have asked themselves how Israel might use this platform," Paul added. "The basis on which they should have denied this transfer has been there since at least the Mavi Marmara incident... but is now more clear than ever, and the lesson here is a simple one: that anything we transfer to Israel, Israel will find a way to misuse—whether it is a bomb, a bulldozer, or a boat.”
Paul was referring to the May 2010 raid on one of the first Gaza Freedom Flotilla convoys, during which Israeli forces killed nine volunteers aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.
"While international law has been flagrantly violated and legal proceedings are now active in Turkey, Italy, and Spain, with Italian prosecutors opening an investigation into kidnapping and sexual assault, the US government continues to look away," GSF said in regard to the latest flotilla.
Americans aboard past Gaza flotillas said the Trump administration failed to provide any consular support during their abduction and abuse.
This time, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee—a Christian Zionist who has denied the very existence of the Palestinian people—joined senior officials from other countries in condemning Israel's abuse of abducted flotilla members.
GSF said Tuesday that "the Israeli regime continues to commit genocide using US-built ships and US-made weapons. The torture of US citizens and humanitarian volunteers with American-made tools is not an anomaly. It is the direct outcome of unconditional US support for a regime continuously committing war crimes and crimes against humanity."
That support includes tens of billions of dollars in armed aid during the Biden and Trump administrations, which both also provided diplomatic cover for Israel, including vetoes of numerous Gaza ceasefire resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 250,000 Palestinians in Gaza—including thousands of people who are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble—while forcibly displacing, intentionally starving, or sickening around 2 million others.
Israel's actions are the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case filed by South Africa and formally supported by nearly 20 other nations. The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, including murder and forced starvation.
Last year, a UN panel of experts said that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a conclusion also reached by numerous governments, human rights groups, jurists, and scholars—including prominent Israeli and other Jewish Holocaust experts.
Flotilla participants have stressed that their ordeal pales in comparison to the plight of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children imprisoned by Israel, often without charge or trial under the country's administrative detention regime. Israeli authorities are investigating the deaths of dozens of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were allegedly tortured to death and executed. Others have allegedly been subjected to widespread rape and sexual abuse in Israeli detention.
"What GSF participants survived for days, many Palestinians endure indefinitely without lawyers or consular access," the flotilla organizers said.
GSF is calling on the US government to take actions including the investigation of Israel's use of US-origin arms and other equipment to abuse American citizens, a suspension of arms transfers to Israel pending the outcome of the probe, and "end unconditional military and diplomatic support for a regime committing genocide."
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UN Expert Presents Shocking Allegations of Israeli Torture, Sexual Abuse of Palestinian Detainees
"The number and cruelty of allegations compiled portray gross disregard by Israel of its duty to treat all detainees humanely."
May 19, 2026
A United Nations expert on Tuesday delivered a report offering evidence of systemic torture, brutality, and sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli captivity.
Alice Jill Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture, said she had gathered substantial evidence of torture and sexual violence committed by Israeli authorities against Arab citizens of Israel as well as Palestinian detainees from Gaza and the West Bank.
After Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, Israel not only launched a military assault on Gaza but also introduced emergency detention measures that Edwards argued “exposed Palestinian detainees to torture, potentially unlawful deaths, incommunicado detention, and degrading conditions.”
Among other things, Edwards' report documents nine allegations of "rape, attempted rape, and threats of rape"; eleven allegations of "beatings, grabbing, electrocution, or mauling by dogs" of male detainees' genitals; 23 allegations of "beatings with weapons or other objects, kicking, and punching"; five allegations of electrocution by electric batons or other devices; and four allegations of forced kneeling for periods lasting up to a full day.
The report also notes that 94 Palestinians died in custody from October 2023 through August 2025, although it acknowledges that "a lack of transparency into the cause of these deaths makes it unclear which deaths are attributed to natural causes or unlawful conduct."
However, the report cites a review of 10 postmortem examinations of detainees who died in Israeli custody which found signs of physical abuse in five cases, and signs of bruising "consistent with beatings and use of restraints" in two cases.
"Findings also included multiple rib fractures, hemorrhages on the skin and near internal organs, and lacerations of intra-abdominal organs," the report adds. "One case documented intracranial hemorrhage resulting from a head injury apparently sustained during arrest."
Edwards said that the sheer volume of torture and abuse allegations documented in the report cannot be written off as the work of rogue actors.
"It is my view that the number and cruelty of allegations compiled portray gross disregard by Israel of its duty to treat all detainees humanely and without discrimination," she said, "and this has encouraged, tolerated, and condoned torture and ill-treatment, at times with support at ministerial and functional levels."
The descriptions of torture in Edwards' report echo recent reporting by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who wrote that his interviews with Palestinian detainees revealed "a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, woman, and even children—by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards."
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