Rights groups and the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Ministry said she had been forced to accept the arrangement. But in a statement, Shalabi insisted she had agreed to the deal voluntarily.

Hanaa Shalabi entered Gaza via the Erez border crossing, and was being transferred by ambulance to a local hospital for tests.

Shalabi, who met relatives on the Israeli side of Erez before entering Gaza, said she was “very happy to be in my country with my people,” but that the encounter with her family was very difficult.

“I was shocked meeting my family, and they were shocked to see me,” she told the media on the Gaza side of Erez. “The meeting with my family was very difficult.” Shalabi was received in Gaza by approximately 100 people bearing her picture and calling out her name.

Shalabi began her hunger strike after she was arrested on Feb. 16 and held without charge. On March 29, Palestinian authorities announced that Shalabi had agreed a deal with Israel under which she would be released and deported to Gaza for three years in exchange for ending her hunger strike.