According to the Shin Bet statement published Tuesday, Wahid Burish, a 38-year-old from the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza, was arrested last month for different activities the agency describes as being supportive of Hamas.
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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 Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, Waheed Borsh, 38, an engineer for the UN’s development agency, sent resources to Hamas and kept the terror group out of trouble with the global organisation, the Times of Israel reported.
The worldwide charity World Vision says Israel has accused the charity’s Gaza Strip director of funneling what appears to be an impossible sum of money to Hamas. He accused a disgruntled former World Vision employee of maligning his son, and said the accusations were an excuse by Israel to “stop the humanitarian assistance for Gaza”.
World Vision International on Tuesday questioned the allegations, suggesting the numbers may have been exaggerated. The UNDP is also audited by professional worldwide inspectors.
The indictment was the second time in less than a week that Israel accused a Palestinian worker of an worldwide aid organization of helping Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement which controls Gaza. Shin Bet claims he is a Hamas operative handpicked 11 years ago to infiltrate the global charity. Halabi also allegedly diverted food packages to Hamas fighters and allowed members of the organization’s military units to fraudulently draw salaries from the charity’s payroll.
The organization’s programs in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip include counseling hundreds of pregnant women on childhood health, providing training for language and math teachers, and leading vocational training for young people.
“Sadly, UNDP has a history of pandering to the Hamas regime in Gaza, including in numerous public statements which have whitewashed Hamas’ weaponization of homes, schools, and hospitals”.
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the US, EU, and United Kingdom among other countries. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon said the UN must do more to put an end to the “exploitation” of the UN by Hamas.
Mr. Borsh had worked for the agency in Gaza since 2003 and his areas of responsibility included demolishing houses damaged during armed conflicts and clearing the rubbish from sites after demolition, the Shin Bet said.
No figures were provided on how much aid money he is alleged to have diverted.
On Sunday, according to the Times of Israel, dozens of Palestinian children and activists in the Gaza Strip rallied in support of Halabi.
“The rubble removal project was established to respond to the consequences of the 2014 hostilities in Gaza”. Germany and Australia – two of the biggest state-sponsors of the NGO – suspended its donations.
Israel says money from British taxpayers was funnelled to Hamas to build the base by a senior Palestinian official with World Vision, a major Christian charity that has been handed millions of pounds by the UK’s Department for International Development (Dfid).
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The charity said in statement: “World Vision subscribes to the humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality and therefore rejects any involvement in any political, military or terrorist activities”.
