Amal Da’na, 24, a mother of one and a cancer patient receiving treatment in Jordan, described the ordeal of crossing Allenby Bridge under the harsh and degrading conditions imposed by Israel

I was born into a Palestinian family in Jordan. Seven years ago, I married my cousin Safwan, 26, from Hebron, and now we live in Hebron with our five-year-old son, Ghassan. About two years ago, I was diagnosed with liver cancer and started treatment at al-Hussein Hospital in Jordan (al-Hussein Cancer Center). Since then, I’ve been going to Jordan every three months and staying with my parents while I undergo treatment. I’ve had four surgeries to remove the damaged part of my liver, with a three-month break between each surgery, and now I’m undergoing chemotherapy there.

When I first got sick and started receiving treatment, the trip to Jordan was relatively easy and simple, and the bridge [the Allenby Bridge border crossing] was open all the time. But over the past year, new exhausting bureaucratic procedures have been causing me great suffering. I suffer from the moment I arrive at the bridge to the moment I finish chemotherapy and go home.

When I first got sick and started receiving treatment, the trip to Jordan was relatively easy and simple, and the bridge [the Allenby Bridge border crossing] was open all the time. But over the past year, new exhausting bureaucratic procedures have been causing me great suffering. I suffer from the moment I arrive at the bridge to the moment I finish chemotherapy and go home to Hebron.

The last time I returned to Hebron after chemotherapy in Jordan was two months ago. I suffered a lot from the crowding and the long wait on the bus that takes us to the Israeli side. I waited on the bus for about three hours. This happened on previous trips, too. Sometimes, after waiting for hours in stifling conditions, the Israeli side sends the buses back, claiming the workers’ shift ends at 2:00 P.M. and the crossing is closed.

The last time I returned to Hebron after chemotherapy in Jordan was two months ago, on 10 December 2025. I suffered a lot from the crowding and the long wait on the bus that takes us to the Israeli side. I waited on the bus for about three hours. This happened on previous trips, too. Sometimes, after waiting for hours in stifling conditions, the Israeli side sends the buses back, claiming the workers’ shift ends at 2:00 P.M. and the crossing is closed.

I feel that sometimes the Israelis deliberately keep us inside the bus until the end of their shift. I leave my parents’ home for the bridge early in the morning or late at night, and sometimes, I have to go back to their place after waiting for hours, because they close the bridge.

The Israeli side has also increased the number of electronic gates that everyone has to cross, and now they’re also forcing us to carry our bags all the way to the inspection terminal. [...] The Israeli workers treat us in a degrading manner and humiliate us, both during the electronic inspection and during the physical search they do afterward, which they carry out aggressively and inconsiderately.

The Israeli side has also increased the number of electronic gates that everyone has to cross, and now they’re also forcing us to carry our bags all the way to the inspection terminal. Sometimes, you have to wait in line for more than three hours. The Israeli workers treat us in a degrading manner and humiliate us, both during the electronic inspection and during the physical search they do afterward, which they carry out aggressively and inconsiderately.

On the Jordanian side, too, we wait for hours when returning to the West Bank. There is one window where passports are stamped, and everyone waits in line there. Because the Israeli side has reduced its operating hours and sometimes closes the bridge for a while in the middle of the day, a very long line of hundreds of people forms at that window. People often don’t get through before the crossing closes for the day, and then they spend the night there, at the bridge or on the street, so they can get in line in the morning.

In the morning, the Jordanian side opens the bridge at 8:00 A.M., but the Israeli side doesn’t open until 10:00 A.M., so it’s impossible to cross until then, and by that time, there’s already a crowd.

These procedures are exhausting, humiliating and suffocating: the long hours of waiting, the strict inspection procedures, and the fact that I have to carry my luggage all the way to the inspection terminal on the Israeli side. It’s very exhausting for me, especially after chemotherapy, which is painful and exhausting in itself.

The long hours of waiting, the strict inspection procedures, and the fact that I have to carry my luggage all the way to the inspection terminal on the Israeli side. It’s very exhausting for me, especially after chemotherapy, which is painful and exhausting in itself. 

Sometimes, after a round of chemotherapy, I can’t travel back home to Hebron to my husband and son right away, and I have to stay with my parents for almost a month to recover and be able to get through all these exhausting procedures. After Ramadan, I’ll have to go back to the hospital for another round of treatments. I hope the situation at the bridge improves and that the Israeli side extends its working hours so that I don’t have to suffer all these long hours of waiting and suffocation in crowded lines.

• Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 15 February 2026