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.

Sources working in Gaza say the armed attacks take place just a few hundred meters away from Israeli troops. Some aid groups say attacked truck drivers have even sought help from the IDF, but the army has refused to intervene. Moreover, they say, the army bars them from taking alternate roads that are considered safer.

Defense officials confirmed that the IDF is aware of the problem. They said that at one point, the government had even considered making the clans to which the armed men belong responsible for distributing aid to Gaza’s residents, even though some of the clans’ members are involved in terrorism, and some are even affiliated with extremist organizations like the Islamic State.