Sabah al-Raqab and her five daughters were among 12 Palestinians who were allowed to return to Gaza by Israeli authorities as the Rafah border crossing with Egypt finally reopened.

Al-Raqab told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic that she set off from the Egyptian city of Arish at about 2:00am (00:00 GMT) on Monday and arrived at the Rafah crossing an hour later.

They waited there until around 7:30am (05:30 GMT), when Egyptian authorities waved them through. They were then met by about 20 staff members from the EU mission and the Palestinian Authority, who questioned them and examined their belongings. They were given the green light to cross about 12 hours later.

Once in Gaza, they were met by the Israeli army near what it calls the Morag Corridor, which cuts off the city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza. Two Israeli interrogators, fluent in Arabic, offered her a choice between leaving Gaza again or providing intelligence to the army.

“We need you to be our eyes and ears,” they told her.

Al-Raqab told Al Jazeera her family was let go when the European delegation intervened to allow the returnees to proceed towards the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.