By Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO Feb 1 (Reuters) - Preparations to reopen Gaza's main border crossing in Rafah were underway on Sunday though it was uncertain any Palestinians would pass through it before the day's end, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

Before the war, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was the only direct exit point for most Palestinians in Gaza to reach the outside world as well as a key entry point for aid into the territory. It has been largely shut since May 2024.

COGAT, the Israeli military unit that oversees humanitarian coordination, said the crossing will reopen in both directions for Gaza residents on foot only and its operation will be coordinated with Egypt and the European Union.

"As part of the pilot for the initial operation of the crossing, all involved parties are carrying out a series of preliminary preparations aimed at increasing readiness for full operation of the crossing," COGAT said on Sunday.

"The actual passage of residents in both directions will begin upon completion of these preparations," it added.

A European source close to the EU mission confirmed the details and a Palestinian official said the crossing was expected to open for passengers on Monday. The Egyptian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

STRICT SECURITY CHECKS

Israel has said the crossing would open under stringent security checks only for Palestinians who wish to leave the war-ravaged enclave and for those who fled the fighting in the first months of the war to return.

Many of those expected to leave are sick and wounded Gazans in need of medical care abroad. The Palestinian health ministry has said that there are 20,000 patients waiting to leave Gaza.

An Israeli defence official said that the crossing can hold between 150-200 people altogether in both directions. There will be more people leaving than returning because patients leave together with escorts, the official added.

Lists of Gazans set to pass through the crossing have been submitted by Egypt and approved by Israel, the official said.

Reopening the border crossing was a key requirement of the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.

But the ceasefire, which came into effect in October after two years of fighting, has been repeatedly shaken by rounds of violence.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 500 Palestinians since the ceasefire, local health officials say, and Palestinian militants have killed four Israeli troops, according to Israeli authorities.

On Saturday, Israel launched some of its most intense airstrikes since the ceasefire, killing at least 30 people, in what it said was a response to a Hamas violation of the truce on Friday when militants emerged from a tunnel in Rafah.

The next phases of Trump's plan for Gaza foresee governance being handed to Palestinian technocrats, Hamas laying down its weapons and Israeli troops withdrawing from the territory while an international force keeps the peace and Gaza is rebuilt.

Hamas has so far rejected disarmament and Israel has repeatedly indicated that if the Islamist militant group is not disarmed peacefully, it will use force to make it do so.

(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz in Cairo; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Christina Fincher)