ISTANBUL

At least 102 Palestinian civilians were killed and 490 injured while seeking humanitarian aid from Israeli-designated centers in the Gaza Strip in eight days, Hamas said on Tuesday.

Israeli forces opened fire early Tuesday on civilians awaiting humanitarian aid at a distribution point in Rafah in southern Gaza, leaving 27 people dead and more than 90 people injured.

“The mechanism that degrades human dignity turned food-seeking into a deadly risk that could cost one’s life,” Hamas said in a statement.

The group appealed to the UN to intervene to stop the “killing mechanism” and to open humanitarian corridors under international oversight, without Israeli control.

Israel has crafted a plan to establish four aid distribution points in southern and central Gaza, which Israeli media say aims to evacuate Palestinians from northern Gaza into the south.

According to Israel’s Army Radio, Israel’s aid distribution plan seeks to turn the territory’s north into a “completely depopulated area.”

The mechanism was opposed by the international community and the UN, which came as an alternative attempt by Israel to bypass the aid distribution through UN channels.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a devastating offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among the enclave's more than 2 million.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.