As food and aid distribution in Gaza continues to be plagued with violence and death, influential clans and tribes that have long existed in the territory are trying to secure aid convoys entering the region.

The National Gathering of Palestinian Clans and Tribes, which helped escort a rare shipment of flour in northern Gaza Wednesday, said they have begun their efforts together to guard aid convoys and prevent lootings. 

Aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip have been limited, leading to scenes of chaos as vulnerable civilians are largely left out when armed gunmen and Israeli forces cause ensuing violence. Alaa El-Din Al-Aklouk, one of the Mukhtars – community leaders elected by large families who make up the clans – announced the plan with other leaders on Wednesday. 

"The clans came together to send a message of safety and security to the Palestinian people," he told CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife. "[The clans] will put in every effort to deliver aid to those who deserve it … without any violence or abuse from others."

Since May 27, Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 549 people have been killed and more than 4,000 have been wounded near the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites or as they waited for UN food trucks to enter. It is unclear how many of those killed or injured were shot by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as criminal gangs were also reported to be present, according to witnesses who spoke to CBC News.

GHF has rejected accusations that its aid distribution centres are dangerous, saying it delivered aid in a "secure, controlled, accountable manner — eliminating the risk of diversion."

War crimes investigation

The latest efforts to secure aid come as Israel's Military Advocate General ordered an investigation Friday into possible war crimes over allegations that Israeli soldiers were ordered by the army to deliberately fire at Palestinians attempting to reach aid distribution sites, according to an exclusive report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz. 

Haaretz said that officers and soldiers, who were unnamed, revealed that commanders "ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat." 

In a statement to CBC News on Friday, an IDF spokesperson said the army rejects the accusation made by Haaretz, saying it does not instruct soldiers to deliberately shoot at civilians, including those approaching the distribution sites.

"In light of recent reports of incidents of harm to the civilians approaching the distribution centers, the incidents are being examined by the relevant IDF authorities," it said.

The Israeli prime minister, meanwhile, denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday.

"IDF soldiers receive clear orders to avoid harming innocent civilians — and they act accordingly," Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Clan members armed with guns, sticks

With the police infrastructure in Gaza crumbling in the midst of the war, clan members have taken up arms to secure aid trucks and ensure they get to non-governmental organizations (NGO) barracks safely and, eventually, to the people.

As trucks entered through the Zikim area in western Gaza City Wednesday, armed and masked men from the clans lined the road – some with guns and others with sticks. They controlled the crowd and fired warning shots when someone got too close to the trucks. 

"The securing of the aid will be done by the men of our clans," Al-Aklouk said. "The clans took on the responsibility … so that it is delivered to every Palestinian household." 

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants. 

After a two-month ceasefire broke down in March, Israel blockaded aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks, prompting a famine warning from a global hunger monitor. Israel, which has only partially lifted the blockade since, vets all aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing some of it, something the militant group denies.

Community leaders decry theft of aid

Yazdan Al-Amawi, Gaza branch manager of Anera, an NGO that also operates in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan, said it securely received more than 20 pallets of aid in its first shipment Wednesday after more than 110 days, with the help of the clans.

"It's been almost at the brink of famine [in Gaza]," Al-Amawi told CBC News. "We are so happy that the women and children and elderly will get rations out of those commodities soon."

WATCH | Mounting deaths reported near GHF aid sites over past month:

‘We saw death’: Palestinians describe violence near GHF aid sites on Monday

At least 20 people were killed and 200 others wounded in Israeli fire near an aid distribution site in Rafah on Monday, according to medics. The deaths are the latest in mass shootings that have killed at least 300 Palestinians in the past several weeks, Gaza’s Health Ministry says, as they try to access food through the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution system.

Abu Salman Al-Mughni, another Mukhtar, said the theft of the aid was done by "bad apples" in the area who are not considered part of the community. 

He blamed businessmen for the thefts who then raised prices of goods in local markets. 

"The rights of the people are being stolen and sold in this manner," he said. "And this is something we will not accept nor will we tolerate." 

"We will no longer allow thieves to steal from the convoys for the merchants and force us to buy them for high prices," another man involved in the tribal effort, Abu Ahmad al-Gharbawi, told The Associated Press.

Israel accuses Hamas of aid theft, halts distribution

On Thursday, Israeli officials said that it would stop aid from entering northern Gaza for two days after a video circulated Wednesday showing dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks – video of the clan members offering security.

But Netanyahu, in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz, accused Hamas of stealing aid, saying that he had ordered the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid. 

The National Gathering of Palestinian Clans and Tribes responded saying no Palestinian faction, a reference to Hamas, had taken part in the process. And Hamas denied any involvement.

An Israeli strike hit a street in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah on Thursday where witnesses said a crowd of people was getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys.

The strike appeared to target members of Sahm, a security unit tasked with stopping looters and cracking down on merchants who sell stolen aid at high prices. The unit is part of Gaza's Hamas-led Interior Ministry, but includes members of other factions. 

There was no comment from the Israeli military on the Thursday strike.

Video of the aftermath showed bodies of multiple young men in the street with blood splattering on the pavement and walls of buildings. The dead included a child and at least seven Sahm members, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where casualties were taken.

The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct.7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent air and ground war in Gaza has killed around 56,331 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, more than half of them women and children.