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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities detained a Palestinian on Saturday who had crossed into the besieged Gaza Strip from Israel a day earlier.

According to Hebrew-language media, Israeli forces detained the man near the area he had crossed in order to enter Gaza.

The sources also noted that the Palestinian was unarmed and reportedly crossed the border in search of a job. It was unclear how long the Palestinian would be detained.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an she would look into reports on the detention.

An Israeli military official told Ma’an on Friday that a man crossed the borderline between Israel and the northern besieged coastal enclave near the Israeli town of Netiv HaAsara.

The army official had added that the man was later identified as a former resident of Gaza who had moved to Israel five years prior via family unification.

While the official said the Palestinian had been living in Israel legally, it remained unclear how he had obtained residency from Israel, given the application of a law setting severe limitations on residency for Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank married to Israeli citizens for the past 14 years.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz meanwhile reported that the Palestinian man had been taken in for interrogation by Hamas security forces in Gaza.

While there are regular reports of residents of the Gaza Strip -- which marked its tenth anniversary under a crippling Israeli blockade this month -- attempting to cross into Israel, the reverse scenario is far less frequent.

Most recently, a Bedouin citizen of Israel crossed into Gaza in July 2016, while another Bedouin man went missing after crossing the border in April 2015 and is believed to have been held in the Gaza Strip ever since.

Both men, identified as Jumaa Ibrahim Abu Ghneima and Hisham al-Sayed, were said to suffer from mental illnesses.

Another Israeli civilian, Avera Mengistu, has been missing after reportedly crossing into the Gaza Strip on his own accord in September 2014.