CAIRO: Palestinian women among the few people let back into Gaza after Israel’s delayed reopening of the Rafah crossing under last year’s ceasefire have described being blindfolded, handcuffed and interrogated by Israeli forces as they tried to get home.

Their journey from Egypt on Monday through the frontier post and across the “yellow line” zone controlled by Israel and an ‘allied’ Palestinian militia group, involved lengthy delays and the confiscation of gifts including toys, one of the women said.

“It was a journey of horror, humiliation and oppression,” said 56-year-old Huda Abu Abed by phone from the tent her family is living in at Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Her account was supported by that of another woman interviewed, and by comments from a third woman interviewed on Arab television. In response to a request for comment, Israel’s military denied its forces had acted inappropriately or mistreated Palestinians crossing into Gaza, without addressing the specific allegations made by the two women interviewed.

About 50 Palestinians had been expected to enter the enclave on Monday but by nightfall only three women and nine children had been let through, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said, with another 38 stuck waiting to clear security.

Of the 50 people waiting to leave Gaza, mostly for medical treatment, only five patients with seven relatives escorting them managed to cross into Egypt on Monday.

Abu Abed said the returnees, who were restricted to a single suitcase each, first encountered problems at the crossing where European border monitors confiscated toys they were taking home as gifts, she said.

She spent a year in Egypt for heart treatment but returned before it was finished because she missed her family. An adult daughter had also travelled to Egypt for medical treatment. An adult son was killed in December 2024 and she was not able to say goodbye to him, she said. Two other children are in Gaza.

Once through the crossing and on the Gaza side of the border, the 12 returnees boarded a bus for their journey through the Israeli-controlled zone and across the “yellow line” demarcating Israeli and Hamas-held zones.

A second woman, Sabah al-Raqeb, 41, said the bus, escorted by two four-wheel-drive vehicles, was stopped at a checkpoint manned by Israel-backed Palestinian gunmen who identified themselves as belonging to the Popular Forces, commonly known as the Abu Shabab militia.

The women’s family names were read out over a loudspeaker and each was led by two men and a woman from Abu Shabab militia to a security point where Israeli forces were waiting. They were then blindfolded and handcuffed, she and Abu Abed said.

They were asked about their knowledge of Hamas, about the Oct 7, 2023 raid and other issues relating to militancy, the two women said. The Palestinian anti-Hamas gunmen also said they could remain in the Israeli-held zone, Raqeb said.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2026