Israel deports thousands of Palestinian workers back to Gaza’s war zone

By TIA GOLDENBERG and ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has deported thousands of workers to the besieged Gaza Strip, capping what many described as harrowing weeks trapped in legal limbo since their detention when the Israel-Hamas war erupted. Some workers, streaming by foot Friday through an Israeli crossing that had been sealed shut since Hamas unleashed its brutal attack on southern Israel Oct. 7, told of violent mistreatment by Israeli authorities in detention centers. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations. The workers’ grim march back to Gaza’s devastated war zone also concluded Israel’s yearslong strategy of providing economic incentives to impoverished Gazans even while blockading the Hamas-ruled enclave with Egypt’s help.