ISTANBUL

At least 292 Palestinians lost their lives due to Israel's closure of the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, local authorities said on Wednesday.

"Among the victims were injured people who were supposed to receive treatment in hospitals outside Gaza, but died as they waited for the opening of the Rafah crossing," Gaza's government media office said.

The media office estimates that more than 3,500 patients and injured people have been denied exit via the crossing since Israel's capture of the terminal last May.

Around 2,500 patients have also applied to leave Gaza via the Rafah crossing for medical attention abroad.

"Israel's closure of the crossing prevents these people from traveling for treatment, which leaves them at risk of death," the media office warned.

On May 7, the Israeli army captured the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on Egypt's border, a vital route to humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, exacerbating the already bad humanitarian conditions in the enclave.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Nearly 38,800 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 89,100 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala