Boresh was arrested in mid-July, and indicted for fraud and aiding a terror group in a Be’er Sheva court Tuesday.
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Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said he was concerned about a “worrying trend of U.N. exploitation by Hamas”.
He is the second humanitarian worker Israel has recently charged with aiding Hamas.
A lawyer for Mr. Borsh couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for UNDP said the organization was preparing a statement in response to the Israeli allegations.
“World Vision’s accountability processes cap the amount individuals in management positions at his level to a signing authority of $15,000”, said Keith Jenkins, president and CEO of World Vision.
The agency said Bursh had provided services to its rubble removal project in Gaza and the Israeli allegations relate to about 300 tonnes, or seven truckloads out of about 26,000, from the project which has cleared about one million tonnes of rubble and 2,761 unexploded ordnance. In 2015, for example, he directed a UNDP project to build an anchorage marina for the use of Hamas terrorists.
Israel and Hamas has fought three wars over the past decade.
Among “various assignments” he performed on behalf of Gaza’s dominant Islamist group was assistance in building a maritime jetty for its fighters “using UNDP resources”, the Shin Bet statement said without providing further details on that charge. Halabi siphoned off almost $10 million to fund Hamas terror projects, and ferried physical aid – food, blankets, tents, and much more – from the residents of Gaza for whom they were intended, providing them to members of his al-Aqsa gang.
That day Israeli officials alleged that Mr. Halabi had diverted World Vision funds to Hamas, which used the money to buy weapons, help finance the construction of attack tunnels into Israel, and build military bases for its armed wing.
But World Vision was sceptical at the Shin Bet’s allegation that Halabi had siphoned off about $7.2 million a year in charity money for Hamas since 2010.
Mr. Halabi confessed to these acts during an investigation, the officials said.
The NGO had earlier said it was looking into the matter, but revealed that the first they learned of the accusations were when the media contacted them for comment. Israel hadn’t yet provided any evidence of its claims, it added.
“World Vision’s cumulative operating budget in Gaza for the past ten years was approximately $22.5 million, which makes the alleged amount of up to $50 million being diverted hard to reconcile”, the statement read.
The UN coordinator for aid in the Palestinian territories, Robert Piper, said on Monday that the allegations against el-Halabi “raise serious concerns” for aid groups in Gaza and called for a fair and transparent trial.
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Abu Bakr Bashir in Gaza City contributed to this article.
