Israel said on Tuesday it had arrested and charged a United Nations employee for allegedly aiding Islamist movement Hamas, in the second such case involving a humanitarian worker in a week.
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Israeli security agency Shin Bet said Waheed Borsh, 38, was indicted on Tuesday.
Israel intelligence also said Borsh confessed to the charges, and admitted that “other Palestinians who work for aid organisations are also working for Hamas”.
Shin Bet arrested Borsh in July.
A Palestinian man stands on the rooftop of a building at a Japan-funded housing project executed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 9, 2016. He was in charge of demolishing homes that were damaged during the Israeli raids on the Palestinian enclave and clearing the rubbish from the sites.
He is also alleged to have past year persuaded UNDP managers to focus home rebuilding efforts in areas where Hamas members lived, after pressure from the group. But Bursh’s relatives in Gaza insisted he was not involved with Hamas.
Borsh, who told investigators that there are other Palestinians employed by aid organizations that are working for Hamas, also disclosed information on Hamas tunnels and military bases that he had been exposed to during his work in Gaza, the Shin Bet said.
The Hamas military wing wanted him to supply them with information about individuals placed in global organisations in Gaza by the United States, said the charge sheet.
Last week, Israeli authorities accused el-Halabi of diverting $7 million a year from World Vision projects in the Gaza Strip to Hamas operations, including those run by its military wing.
Germany and Australia have suspended donations to World Vision in Gaza amid the allegations. “If any of these allegations are proven to be true, we will take swift and decisive action”, although added that the organization had “not seen any of the evidence”, and suggested the numbers had been exaggerated.
It is not immediately clear how Mr Bursh will plead to the charges against him.
An official from the Shin Bet security agency said it amounted to over US$7 million (RM29.23 million) a year, with up to 60 per cent of the NGO’s operating costs allegedly siphoned off.
Mr. Halabi’s father Khalil El-Halabi swiftly rejected accusations that his son was a Hamas operative. If the same materials were put into reconstruction, the Gazan people would be better off and, lacking this crucial asymmetric warfare capability, Hamas would be less tempted to attack Israel.
“They are trying to belittle their role and to show they are much smaller than they really are”, Nahshon said of World Vision.
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Nahshon added that Israel stressed before the senior United Nations officials that it expects the issue be investigated and that real actions be taken to make sure the UN’s humanitarian efforts in Gaza reach those in need and are not used to help Hamas.
