GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory has expressed concern over growing reports that Palestinians returning to the Gaza Strip have been subjected to physical violence, threats, degrading treatment and intrusive searches by Israeli soldiers and other armed individuals operating under Israel’s authority as they crossed through the Kerm Abu Salem crossing, and previously through Rafah.
In a statement, the office said widespread reports indicated that Israeli forces and affiliated armed groups had confiscated medicines, medical supplies, personal documents, educational certificates, money and other personal belongings, without providing any mechanism for their return.
Between July 7 and August 4, 2026, hundreds of returning Palestinians described long and exhausting journeys. On one day in July, 54 out of 92 returnees reported that some or all of their personal belongings had been confiscated, including medicines and assistive devices.
In early August, an elderly man reported that he was beaten, handcuffed, dragged on the ground and detained in a small room after objecting to money missing from his belongings, before being taken to a bus.
In another incident, two women returning together said they were taken separately to closed areas and subjected to intrusive body searches by an Israeli female soldier. They said they were ordered to remove their clothes while a surveillance camera was filming them, after a metal necklace worn by one of them triggered a security alarm.
The UN office said the reports were consistent with concerns previously documented during earlier crossings, when returnees reported verbal abuse, intimidation, questioning, violent treatment and the confiscation of items from their luggage.
The office said children face even greater vulnerability, citing the case of a 4-year-old girl who arrived in Gaza alone after her father was prevented from returning to the territory. Humanitarian partners had to begin tracing her family members and help reunite her with her mother and uncle.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory, said the abuses faced by Palestinians returning to Gaza are part of a broader pattern of violations and dehumanization, warning that they could deter people from returning.
He said the returnees are vulnerable people going back to their occupied land, which has been devastated by years of Israeli bombardment and deprived of the most basic necessities of life.
“Why should they be forced to endure this treatment upon their return?” he wondered.
