The Israel Defense Forces is allowing armed Palestinians to loot aid convoys entering Gaza and to extort protection money from them, say sources in international aid organizations working in the enclave.

The sources told Haaretz that the armed men who belong to two clans from the Rafah district have blocked a large portion of the aid shipments entering Gaza through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing.

The looting is systematic, they said, yet the IDF has turned a blind eye. And since some of the aid groups refuse to pay protection money, the aid often ends up sitting in warehouses that are under Israeli army control.