Israeli authorities said pilots began piloting the crossing before Gaza residents began passing through it on Monday.

Israel said it had partially reopened the key Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, but at 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 preparing for fuller operations, adding that Gaza residents would begin passing through the crossing on Monday.

“In accordance with the ceasefire agreement and instructions from the political echelon, the Rafah crossing is open today for limited access for residents only,” COGAT said.

The Israeli army said it had built a complex that will serve as a screening facility for Palestinians entering and exiting Gaza through the Rafah crossing, which will open to limited traffic on Monday.

Rafah has been largely closed since May 2024, when it was captured during Israel’s two-year genocidal war in Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, called the reopening of the crossing a “troubling development.”

“Palestinians want to leave, but at the same time they fear they won’t be able to come back,” he said. “People said they left just for medical evacuation or to continue their studies and that they wanted to come back later.”

Ismail Tawabta, director of the Gaza government media office, told Al Jazeera that some 80,000 Palestinians who left Gaza during Israel’s war are seeking to return.

He added that an estimated 22,000 sick and wounded were also in “urgent need” to leave Gaza for treatment abroad.

Israeli attacks continue

An Israeli drone strike killed one person on Sunday northwest of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to sources at the Nasser Medical Complex.

Palestinian media confirmed the death of 63-year-old Khaled Hammad Ahmed Dahleez in the Al-Shakoush area.

Meanwhile, an Israeli drone strike killed a Palestinian in the Wadi Gaza district of central Gaza.

On Saturday, Israel launched multiple air strikes in northern and southern Gaza, killing at least 31 people.

Since the conflict began, Israeli forces have killed at least 511 Palestinians and wounded 1,405 others. U.S.-backed “ceasefire agreement”” October 10th.

Israel to ban Doctors Without Borders

The Israeli government announced on Sunday another blow to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. will terminate Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF by its French acronym) has failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff carrying out humanitarian operations in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism said the decision was taken “after MSF failed to submit a list of local employees, a requirement that applies to all humanitarian organizations operating in the area.”

December, Israel declares It will prevent 37 aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, from operating in Gaza from March 1 after they failed to submit details about Palestinian employees, drawing widespread condemnation from NGOs and the United Nations.

London emergency doctor James Smith told Al Jazeera that Israel’s decision to end MSF’s operations in Gaza “is an extension of Israel’s systematic weaponization and instrumentalization of aid”.

Smith said that “Israel has systematically targeted the Palestinian medical system, killing more than 1,700 Palestinian medical workers,” thereby “creating a profound dependence on international organizations.”