From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
30 out of 42 Palestinians who tried to cross into Gaza through Rafah said barred from entering
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Thirty of 42 Palestinians who sought to return to the Gaza Strip yesterday via the Rafah Border Crossing were prevented from entering and were returned to Egypt, Qatari channel Al-Araby reports.
Citing unnamed sources, the network says those who returned to Gaza were interrogated several times during their journey, including by masked gunmen who stopped them at a checkpoint 500 meters from the Rafah Crossing.
The sources say that the armed individuals handed the returnees over to IDF troops, whereupon they were interrogated and their belongings were confiscated.
Palestinians who are returning to Gaza via Egypt first pass through the Rafah Crossing, which is being operated by a team of Palestinian Authority representatives and monitors from the European Union.
From there, they make their way to an IDF checkpoint — located around five kilometers northeast of Rafah Crossing, on the Salah a-Din highway — for a security screening. Only afterward will they be permitted to continue toward the Hamas-controlled areas of Gaza.
An area between Rafah Crossing and the IDF’s checkpoint is controlled by the Popular Forces, a militia founded by an anti-Hamas armed Bedouin leader, Yasser Abu Shabab.
Going in the other direction, only 12 Palestinians entered Egypt from Gaza yesterday, a diplomatic official tells The Times of Israel.
The Times of Israel Community.