More than 170 major nongovernmental organizations and international charities issued a joint statement Monday demanding the immediate end to the US- and Israeli-backed aid distribution mechanism in the Gaza Strip, which they say has put the lives of civilians at risk.

What happened: The statement, which includes signatories such as Oxfam, Save the Children, Amnesty, Doctors Without Borders, Norwegian Refugee Council and ActionAid, said the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which it called “deadly,” must be dismantled, calling for the return to UN-led coordination mechanisms.

“The 400 aid distribution points operating during the temporary ceasefire across Gaza have now been replaced by just four military-controlled distribution sites, forcing 2 million people into overcrowded, militarized zones where they face daily gunfire and mass casualties while trying to access food and are denied other life-saving supplies,” the statement read. “Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: Starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families."

The NGOs further called for an end to the “suffocating siege” imposed on the Gaza Strip, and urged donors not to fund “militarized aid schemes that violate international law.”