The Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Advocacy has warned of the serious risks facing citizens returning to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing, affirming that preliminary, documented information indicates that everyone who has returned to Gaza has been subjected to a series of degrading interrogations, attempts at blackmail, and direct threats of arrest.
In its statement, the Center stressed that what is taking place at the crossing is not security or technical procedures as claimed, but rather an organized and systematic policy of restriction and coercive interrogation. These practices constitute a direct violation of citizens’ dignity and subject them to severe psychological and security pressures, at a time when the crossing is supposed to serve as a vital humanitarian lifeline for the people of the Gaza Strip, who have endured two years of a devastating genocidal war.
The statement further noted that the Palestinian people have long and bitter experience with crossings, which have repeatedly been used as tools for arrest and interrogation, and have often turned into “small mobile prisons” where travelers are detained for long hours under pressure and intimidation.
The Center called on international mediators, foremost among them the Egyptian side, to assume their responsibilities and exert pressure to compel the occupying authorities to immediately cease these practices and to guarantee safe freedom of movement for citizens without blackmail or threats.
The Center emphasized that the continuation of these policies deepens humanitarian suffering, strips the crossing of its true role and purpose, and entrenches the use of crossings as security pressure tools against the people of Gaza. It called for urgent action to protect travelers and to halt any measures that undermine their rights and human dignity.
