CAIRO, Egypt — As Israel begins to allow a trickle of Palestinians through the Rafah Crossing, Gazans stranded in Egypt are torn between staying in exile without formal status or returning to a land in ruins.

“Return to Gaza for what? To live in a tent?” demanded Mohamed, a 78-year-old poet from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.

“We have not turned our backs on Gaza; we will return. But right now, we cannot go back under these conditions,” he told AFP, asking to be identified only by his first name.

Some 80 percent of Gaza’s buildings have been destroyed or damaged, according to the United Nations.

While food security in Gaza has improved since the ceasefire came into place in October, the humanitarian situation in the Strip remains dire, and there are not yet detailed reconstruction plans.

Mohamed is among an estimated 80,000-100,000 Palestinians who came to Egypt through the Rafah Crossing, before it was captured by Israeli forces and shut by Egypt in May 2024 amid the war in Gaza, which was sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre of some 1,200 people in southern Israel.

Returns are tightly controlled, and by Wednesday, only a few dozen Palestinians had been allowed back, describing to AFP a humiliating journey through Israeli checkpoints.

Asked about the alleged mistreatment on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, “No incidents of inappropriate conduct, mistreatment, apprehensions, or confiscation of property by the Israeli security establishment are known.”

Two years after their son, who lives in France, drained his savings to get them........

© The Times of Israel