France, Oct. 10 -- 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, ...