At least three Palestinians have been killed in Israeli drone strikes in war-battered Gaza, nearly two and a half years into Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave, as severely limited medical evacuations restarted through the Rafah border crossing.

Doctors at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said two people were killed in a drone strike in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, in the eastern part of Gaza City.

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In a separate attack, one person was killed and another wounded when a drone struck a group of people in another area of eastern Gaza City, outside the so-called “Yellow Line”. An unspecified number of Palestinians were wounded in Thursday’s attacks.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 72,000 people, among them tens of thousands of children and women. Some independent researchers believe the true number of those killed is significantly higher.

The strikes came as a first, limited group of wounded Palestinians was evacuated from Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, after a 19-day closure by Israel, since it started bombing Iran.

The Palestinian ⁠Red Crescent Society said only eight Palestinians who were injured in Israeli attacks during the Gaza war and 17 of their family members ⁠would be allowed into Egypt for medical treatment after the crossing, seen as a lifeline for Palestinians, reopened on Thursday.

Several ambulances were seen waiting to evacuate patients from the territory.

Israel has restricted medical evacuations and prevented Palestinians from returning home since it reopened the crossing in early February as part of a October 2025 ceasefire agreement – which it has violated almost daily since.