The Israeli military has approached some Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip and asked them to coordinate future aid entry to sidestep the Hamas-run government and UN agencies.
Middle East Eye has learned that representatives of at least two families in Gaza City and northern towns have been contacted by Israeli authorities who asked them to “cooperate with them”.
They are requested to adhere to the instructions provided by the Israeli authorities to facilitate the entry of goods and receive and distribute international aid.
It was not immediately clear whether the two families had taken up the offer and there are no signs that such coordination has taken effect as of yet.
The move comes after repeated Israeli targeting of local police and other civil servants who attempted to maintain law and order and coordinate aid distribution in northern Gaza.
It also follows months of Israeli efforts to undermine the role of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa), the largest humanitarian agency in Gaza.
At the same time, the military has tightened its aid blockade on more than half a million people in the northern Gaza Strip in recent weeks.
The siege has led to “pockets of famine” emerging there with several reports of people dying from malnutrition, as basic food items run out.
Residents and experts fear that if successful, the Israeli-engineered family-based local governance system would fuel social unrest and chaos.
“Israel aims to inundate the Gaza Strip with a primitive governance system, resembling tribal rule, where each neighbourhood has its own leader,” Abdallah Sharsharah, a Gaza-based lawyer and human rights advocate, told MEE.
“These leaders do not rely on popular will but on the strength of arms, as competing groups,” he added.
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