130 NGOs call for an end to the "deadly" US-Israel aid distribution program.

More than 130 NGOs have called for immediate action to end the "deadly" US- and Israeli-backed aid program, known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and return to UN-led aid coordination mechanisms.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began its work in late May, following a three-month Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Since then, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and approximately 4,000 others injured by Israeli occupation forces while trying to obtain food and aid.

"Palestinians in Gaza today face an impossible choice: either starve to death or risk being shot as they desperately try to access food to feed their families," the NGOs said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Signatories to the statement include Oxfam, Save the Children, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, and ActionAid.

It should be noted that there were 400 aid distribution points operating during the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip between December 19 and March 18, 2025. These have now been replaced by four military distribution sites, forcing more than two million people to flee to overcrowded areas where they face Israeli military fire.

"The humanitarian system is being deliberately and systematically dismantled due to the blockade and restrictions imposed by the Israeli government," the organizations wrote.

"The blockade is now being used to justify halting virtually all other relief operations, in favor of a deadly military-controlled alternative that neither protects civilians nor meets their basic needs," she added.

Under the World Food Programme (WFP), "hungry and vulnerable" civilians are forced to walk for hours through "dangerous areas and active conflict zones," the organizations said.

Last week, the Middle East Eye published an interview with Yousef al-Ajouri, a 40-year-old Palestinian from Gaza City, in which he described his deadly journey to obtain food from the Global Relief Fund. He likened his experience to a tragic TV series called "Squid Game," describing how he feared for his life amid Israeli sniper fire, saw numerous corpses, and had to forcefully push other hungry Palestinians to obtain food parcels.

Israeli military officials admitted to shooting at Palestinian civilians queuing for aid in Gaza even though they posed no threat, according to a report published by Haaretz on Monday.

This admission comes after a report published by the newspaper on Friday, in which Israeli soldiers admitted receiving orders to shoot hungry civilians at humanitarian aid distribution points in Gaza.

Officials in the Southern Command unit said they were "ordered to fire on unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even in the absence of any threat," adding that "civilians were killed by 'inaccurate and uncalculated' artillery fire."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the Haaretz report, calling it "malicious lies."

In the most serious incident, between 30 and 40 people were targeted by Israeli soldiers, the organizations said. "Amid severe hunger and famine-like conditions, many families tell us they are now too weak to compete for food rations," the NGOs said. "Those who manage to obtain food often return with very few basic items—which are almost impossible to prepare without clean water or cooking fuel."

She added that the Sphere Association, which sets minimum standards for humanitarian aid, warned that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) does not adhere to basic humanitarian standards and principles.

The groups called on donors not to fund military-type aid programs that violate international law and "risk complicity in atrocities," and to take concrete steps to end the crippling blockade of Gaza.

Other countries urged the re-establishment of a unified coordination mechanism led by the United Nations "based on international humanitarian law and including UNRWA, Palestinian civil society, and the broader humanitarian community."

Last week, 15 human rights and legal organizations said that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) may be complicit in international crimes.