Thirty-eight-year old Wahid Abdullah Boresh, a resident of Jebalya in Gaza, helped build military installations for Hamas, and helped Hamas leaders build mansions for themselves. For example, he allegedly informed Hamas that armaments or tunnel entrances were found in homes under the UNDP’s authority so that the group could commandeer the site, in clear contradiction of the United Nations organization’s mandate.
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Abu Zuhri called on the worldwide community to bear its responsibility over such “practices which could have unsafe consequences”.
According to the Shin Bet internal security agency, Mohammed al-Halabi diverted $7.2 million (6.5 million euros) each year since 2010 to Hamas and its military wing, though his charge sheet does not specify an amount.
The Times cites a Shin Bet official who “emphasized there was no evidence from the investigation and interrogation of Mr. Halabi that World Vision had been aware of the misuse of its funds in Gaza”, though the affair “did reveal an abysmal lack of monitoring and supervision by the organization of its donations and projects”.
Israel has indicted the Gaza director of World Vision, one of the largest charities in the world, accusing him of siphoning off tens of millions of dollars earmarked for the people of Gaza and sending it instead to the Hamas militant group.
The statement said Halabi became the NGO’s Gaza head in 2014 and would have only had the personal authority to sign off a budget up to US$15,000. During the investigation, the statement said, Borsh allegedly admitted that “other Palestinians who work for aid organisations are also working for Hamas”.
The Shin Bet issued a statement saying that while interrogating Halabi over the past six weeks, he confessed that he was a Hamas activist.
Boresh was an employee of the United Nations Development Program, which funds construction and infrastructure programs in developing countries around the world.
It comes after Israel on Thursday charged the Gaza head of major global NGO World Vision Mohammed al-Halabi with diverting millions of dollars in foreign funding to Hamas and its military wing.
Australia suspended funding for World Vision projects in the Palestinian territories after what it called “deeply troubling” allegations.
Hamas had hidden weapons in many homes and businesses in Gaza, and in the wake of Operation Protective Edge, many of those buildings were damaged. Hamas dismissed the new allegations as a bid by Israel, which along with neighbouring Egypt blockades Gaza, to control the enclave.
It alleged that a year ago he appropriated UNDP resources to build a military jetty in northern Gaza for use by Hamas’s naval forces.
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Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasim told NPR that the allegations were made by “an enemy entity that has no credibility at all to us”, and that “Israel is trying to make fake media wins”.
