GAZA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Some Palestinian patients started moving from the city of Khan Younis toward the Rafah land crossing in southern Gaza, in preparation for their travel abroad, Palestinian medical sources said Monday.

Ambulances transporting Palestinian patients and war-wounded, head towards the Kerem Shalom crossing to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment abroad, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on February 2, 2026. (Photo: AFP)

The sources told Xinhua that the first bus, carrying five patients and 10 companions, departed from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society's field headquarters in Khan Younis and headed toward the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border.

Atef al-Hout, director of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, said in a press statement that the Israeli side had approved only five names from a list of 27 patients and wounded individuals, noting that the issue of their travel remains shrouded in "ambiguity and lack of clarity."

Earlier on Monday, the crossing, the only channel linking Gaza with Egypt, was reopened in both directions on a limited and trial basis, as a number of Palestinians arrived on the Egyptian side of the crossing in preparation for entering Gaza, according to Palestinian sources.

The crossing, once a main exit for Palestinians and a key entry point for humanitarian aid, has been mostly closed since May 2024, when Israeli forces took control of the Palestinian side of the crossing. Its reopening marks a crucial step following the latest Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.

Separately, three Palestinians, including a child, were killed on Monday by Israeli army fire across Gaza, according to Palestinian sources.

Sources at Nasser Medical Complex said 3-year-old Iyad al-Rabai'a was killed when Israeli naval vessels shelled tents sheltering displaced people south of Khan Younis.

The facility also received the body of a 40-year-old man who was killed by Israeli army fire in the Khan Younis area, the sources said.

Meanwhile, in northern Gaza, a Palestinian was killed and several others were wounded in an Israeli drone attack on a school sheltering displaced people in Jabalia, near the "Yellow Line," a demarcation marking Israeli-held territory under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, according to sources at al-Shifa Medical Complex.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli side on the incidents.

Since the latest ceasefire took effect, at least 526 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to 71,800, Gaza-based health authorities said Monday.