4 November 2023: Abu Toha wrote that his wife, children and he were approved to leave Gaza through Rafah. His son is an American citizen. 19 November 2023: They finally set out from central Gaza toward Rafah. Israeli forces detained Abu Toha at a checkpoint before he could cross into Egypt. 21 November: He was released and returned to his family in Gaza. By 22 December 2023: he was in Cairo, Egypt, with his wife and three children.

He described his detention several times, one of them, reported in the Guardian:

"Abu Toha was born in Gaza and had lived there for most of his 31 years, frequently under Israeli bombardment, but this was the first time he had encountered Israeli soldiers in person. He was ordered, by megaphone, to strip naked. When dressed again he was blindfolded, and a numbered bracelet attached to his wrist. He was sworn at, punched and kicked, including in the face, and forced into a truck; when the blindfold was pulled off, “a soldier is aiming an M16 at my head,” he wrote, a month later, in the New Yorker. “Another soldier, behind a computer, asks questions and takes a photo of me. Another numbered badge is fastened to my left arm.” He spent much of two days kneeling on the rubbled ground.

The ordeal ended as abruptly as it had begun. “We are sorry about the mistake. You are going home.”