Questioning and delays: A Palestinian family’s grueling return to Gaza

KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip — It had been 647 days since Amani Imran left home and she had felt every single one of them.

So when he received the phone call at 10 p.m. informing him that he would finally be leaving Egypt and returning to Gaza the next day, he did not think about the house destroyed in Israel’s assault on the area, worry about the lack of food, water or electricity, or fear the Israeli bombardment that remains a daily threat despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Instead, Imran told her husband Adel, 63, and youngest daughter Duaa, 16, to get ready.

“We were all eager to go back,” Imran recalled. “But my daughter Duaa, she wanted this the most. She wanted Gaza.”

The Imran family was among tens of thousands of Palestinians who were desperate to return to Gaza and waited for months, even years, for Israel to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which was virtually sealed off after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel captured the gate in May 2024 and closed it completely.

The Trump-brokered ceasefire signed in October last year stipulated the opening of Rafah, the only route into and out of Palestinian-controlled territory, but Israel refused to allow passage until the militant group Hamas returned all hostages, dead or alive.

After Israel retrieved the remains of the last hostage to die last month, it allowed limited, two-way foot traffic under an agreement with Egypt: 50 Palestinians are allowed into Gaza each day, and 50 Palestinians who need medical care can leave. (Two companions are allowed for each patient.)

Egyptian state media reported that nearly 80,000 Palestinians had registered with the Palestinian Embassy in Egypt to return to the Strip, and that more than 20,000 sick and injured Palestinians had to leave Gaza for treatment, according to the World Health Organization and local health facilities.

But since the crossing point reopened on February 2, the number of people entering and exiting has been far fewer than the promised 100 per day.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said in a statement on Sunday at

Imran and his family raced to recover as soon as they learned they had received permission to return. Among the conditions they had to comply with was that they each brought only one suitcase. They continued to pack and repack, weighing the importance and necessity of each item.

At 2 a.m. on February 6, they gathered at a meeting area in the city of Al Arish and boarded a bus to the border crossing. The distance between the two sites is less than 35 miles, but due to various delays they did not arrive until 7 a.m. They entered a hall, where they met with about two dozen people, as well as Egyptian Red Crescent staff who were distributing water and gift packages.

“It felt human,” Imran said.

Palestinians returning to Gaza from the Rafah Border Gate reached Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

(Abdallah Fs Alattar / Anadolu / Getty Images)

This would be the last moment of kindness he would encounter for the remainder of his journey.

The group stayed in the hall for hours to get permission. Finally, permission came at 15:10 and everyone was told to get on the bus. They performed the afternoon prayer before boarding.

“We were tired but hopeful,” Imran said.

Imran, along with Duaa, had traveled to Egypt on April 27, 2024, leaving behind their three sons, six daughters and 28 grandchildren, so that they could accompany Adel Imran for medical treatment. Medical records reviewed by The Times show he had a heart condition that required open-heart surgery, which Gaza’s fragmented health system can no longer provide.

In Egypt, Imran and Duaa rarely left Adel Imran’s side, managing appointments, following doctors’ orders, and helping him through his recovery even as they watched Israeli attacks destroy the region and family members spoke of their deprivation.

“Sometimes I wouldn’t eat in Egypt just out of solidarity with them,” Imran said.

Her husband said her worst moment in Egypt came when rumors spread that those who left the region would never return.

“I wish I could go back there,” he said. “I thought if that couldn’t happen, I wanted to be buried in El Arish, as close to my home as possible.”

Palestinians who returned to Gaza from the Rafah Border Gate met with their loved ones at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

(Abdallah Fs Alattar / Anadolu / Getty Images
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The bus stopped at a checkpoint, and the returnees passed through a barbed-wire gate to the Gaza side of the Rafah terminal. It was staffed by Palestinian Authority border and customs agents, who inspected everyone’s luggage while being supervised by observers from the European Union Border Assistance Mission.

“They started buying things like cosmetics, perfumes, headphones,” Imran said. They poured out water bottles and counted the money everyone had, preventing anyone from bringing more than about 2,000 Israeli shekels, the equivalent of $645.

The three new phones the family bought were also flagged; European observers said that if they wanted to bring them in, they would have to give up their old phones, which contained copies of Adel Imran’s medical records and CT scans, contacts and pictures from their time in Egypt. The monitors also tried to seize four power banks and chargers.

“I shouted at them that we would be in ruins without electricity. How can we charge our phones?” Imran said, his voice turning harsher as he remembered the encounter. The monitor finally allowed a charger and a pair of headphones. Power banks were not allowed; It wasn’t the toy that Imran bought for his 7-year-old grandson Adel.

“I shouted. I tried to argue. It was useless,” Imran said. He watched as his belongings were thrown into the basket.

“As if it were all garbage.”

A search was conducted at sunset but the group was directed to a second checkpoint. Adel Imran was transported in a golf cart. His wife and daughter walked.

This checkpoint was manned by the Israeli-backed anti-Hamas militia group Popular Forces, which operates in southeastern Rafah; Members of these militias were accused of looting aid, gang activity and ties to the extremist group Islamic State. (The group’s leader denied the allegations.)

Israel provided arms, funds and logistical support to the militias and their allies in an attempt to promote the Popular Forces as an alternative governing body to Hamas.

A bus arrived and the group rode for more than an hour, with two vehicles in tow, before reaching another checkpoint.

Returnees in previous crossings complained of intimidation and harsh treatment by the Popular Forces, but Imran said they did not harass him while searching for his belongings. They also tried to persuade him to stay in the part of Gaza under the group’s control.

When the search ended, the group began walking in the dark once again.

“You couldn’t see anything and it felt like we were in the middle of the desert. But I could smell the air of Gaza,” Imran said.

They arrived at another checkpoint, at which point Israeli security guards were shouting the names of the returnees over loudspeakers.

Palestinians, who can use the Rafah border gate, which has been closed for a long time, connecting Egypt and the Gaza Strip, are having emotional meetings in Khan Younis.

(Abdallah Fs Alattar / Anadolu / Getty Images)

While some were hand-searched, others were brought in for questioning, including Adel Imran, who was asked for the names and addresses of his family members. Duaa was also detained for questioning.

“The soldiers told me to leave my daughter behind, but I refused,” Imran said.

Duaa eventually emerged and Israeli security personnel, some wearing masks, took photos of her and Imran.

A United Nations bus arrived to take the returnees across the Yellow Line, the ceasefire border established after the ceasefire that separates parts of Gaza controlled by Hamas and Israel. It was 22.30

The bus passed through the moonscape that Gaza had become, reaching Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis city, where people gathered to meet their loved ones.

It was his sons who welcomed Imran when he got off the ship. Their daughters and grandchildren had also waited, but when the bus arrived, they too went home to sleep.

More than 35 hours after leaving El Arish, Imran was at home, or what was left of him: after all, his home was long gone; Tents where the sand swirled were set up where buildings once stood.

He looked at his grandson Adel, who was moving around the tent’s fabric and rope. He was happy to have his grandmother, grandfather, and aunt back, but he was a little disappointed that the gift he received from Egypt was left behind.

People help Palestinian artist Yazeed Abu Jarad create a sand sculpture with the message “Welcome Ramadan” in Khan Younis on February 17, 2026, one day before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

(Doaa Albaz / AFP/Getty Images)

Due to the ceasefire, the family was able to return, but there is no peace in Gaza.

According to Gaza officials, at least 601 Palestinians have been killed and 1,607 injured in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire came into force. Israel says its attacks are a response to Hamas’ violations of the agreement and that four of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began.

But none of this mattered to Imran.

“I feel like I’m coming back to life,” Imran said. “Gaza is my home. No matter what happens, I love being here with my whole family.”