The pilot comes before Gaza residents begin to pass through the crossing on Monday, Israeli authorities say.
Israel says it has partially reopened the critical Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in a limited capacity.
Israel announced on Sunday that the crossing had reopened in a trial. Meanwhile, COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls aid to Gaza, said in a statement that the crossing was actively being prepared for fuller operation, adding that residents of Gaza would begin to pass through it on Monday.
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“In accordance with the ceasefire agreement and a directive of the political echelon, the Rafah Crossing was opened today for the limited passage of residents only,” COGAT said.
The Israeli army said it has completed a complex that will serve as a screening facility for Palestinians passing in and out of Gaza through the Rafah crossing, which will be open for the movement of some people on Monday.
Rafah has been largely shut since it was seized by Israel in May 2024, amid the country’s two-year genocidal war on Gaza.
media’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said the crossing’s reopening was an “uncomfortable dynamic”.
“Palestinians want to leave, but at the same time, they’re worried they won’t be able to come back,” he said. “People said the purpose for them departing would strictly be for medical evacuation or continuing their education, and they want to come back later on.”
Ismail al-Thawabta, the director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, told media that about 80,000 Palestinians who left Gaza during Israel’s war are seeking to return.
An estimated 22,000 wounded and sick people are also “in dire need” to leave Gaza for treatment abroad, he added.
Israeli attacks continue
An Israeli drone attack on Sunday killed one person in the northwest of Rafah city in southern Gaza, according to a source at the Nasser Medical Complex.
Palestinian media outlets confirmed the death of Khaled Hammad Ahmed Dahleez, 63, in the Al-Shakoush area.
Meanwhile, in central Gaza, an Israeli drone attack killed a Palestinian in the Wadi Gaza area.
The attacks came after at least 31 people were killed on Saturday in multiple Israeli air raids on northern and southern Gaza.
Israeli forces have killed at least 511 Palestinians, and wounded 1,405, since the start of the US-backed “ceasefire” on October 10.
Israel to ban MSF
The Israeli government dealt another blow to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, announcing on Sunday that it will terminate the humanitarian operations of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, in the besieged Palestinian territory after it failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff.
The decision followed “MSF’s failure to submit lists of local employees, a requirement applicable to all humanitarian organisations operating in the region”, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said.
In December, Israel announced it would prevent 37 aid organisations, including MSF, from working in Gaza from March 1 for failing to submit detailed information about their Palestinian employees, drawing widespread condemnation from NGOs and the United Nations.
Israel’s decision to terminate MSF’s operations in Gaza “is an extension of Israel’s systematic weaponisation and instrumentalisation of aid”, James Smith, an emergency doctor based in London, told media.
“Israel has systematically targeted the Palestinian healthcare system, killing more than 1,700 Palestinian healthcare workers”, thereby “creating a profound dependency on international organisations”, Smith said.
