Share

Gaza aid workers fear impact of Hamas allegations

“Hamas, the terrorist organisation that runs Gaza, stole millions of dollars from humanitarian organisations like World Vision and the United Nations”.

Advertisement

Benjamin Netanyahu has released a new video in which he accuses Hamas of denying humanitarian aid to Palestinians, referring to the recent reports of humanitarian aid organizations diverting funds to Hamas, rather than providing actual humanitarian aid as Israel does; ‘The Palestinian people deserve better’.

Later on in the video, the Israeli Prime Minister asked the Palestinians: “Who cares more about Palestinians?”

An Israeli court on August 4 charged World Vision’s Gaza head Mohammed al-Halabi with funding “terror”, while a United Nations engineer was indicted Tuesday on allegations of working with Hamas’s military wing.

“Hamas used this stolen money to build a war machine to murder Jews”, he said.

Shawan Jabarin, director general for the Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu’s comments were part of a longstanding campaign to consolidate Israel’s control of financial aid to the heavily blockaded territory by discrediting worldwide charity organisations.

Israel on Tuesday charged a United Nations staffer with helping the Islamist movement, the second indictment involving aid workers in Gaza in a week. “Or Hamas, that robs Palestinian children of that very same aid?” he asked rhetorically.

Netanyahu proposes, “Imagine, just imagine, where we might all be if Palestinian leaders cared as much about helping their own people as they did about hurting our people”.

“This investigation shows the manner in which Hamas takes advantage of aid resources from global organisations in Gaza, which are meant to be used as humanitarian aid for the civilian population”, the Shin Bet stated. “But I’m going to say it anyway because it’s true”, is the opening line to Netanyahu’s speech that was published Thursday on his official social media accounts.

The minister also said Turkey would continue its efforts to help residents of the Gaza Strip: “We had promised to send $200 million to Palestine by the end of 2017 and it appears that we will even surpass the amount”.

Advertisement

For his coup de grace, Netanyahu said that Hamas’s “cynicism and cruelty” were hurting everyone and endangering peace.

Second Gaza humanitarian aid worker arrested for helping Hamas