Despite the claims, the statement said, the United Nations remained confident it had “robust measures in place” to prevent aid diversion.
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Borsh also confessed to providing UNDP resources to help Hamas build a naval jetty in the northern Gaza Strip and to using his position within the organization to prioritize the reconstruction of housing in areas where Hamas members lived.
Hamas denied allegations in a statement, calling the claims “baseless” and said they are being used “to justify the continued siege on Gaza”.
The news came as a lawyer acting on behalf of World Vision employee Mohammad el-Halabi told Al Jazeera that his client was tortured during his interrogation by ISA.
The Shin Bet said Borsh used UNDP resources previous year to build a jetty for Hamas’ naval forces and that upon request by Hamas he persuaded his managers to prioritize the reconstruction of houses damaged in conflicts with Israel in areas where Hamas members lived.
A statement from Shin Bet said: “The investigation exemplifies the manner in which Hamas takes advantage of worldwide aid agencies’ resources, meant to serve as humanitarian aid for Gaza’s civilian population”.
On Thursday, the Shin Bet announced the arrest of Mohammed El-Halabi, 32, director of the Gaza branch of the worldwide humanitarian aid organization World Vision, on charges that he funneled tens of millions of dollars from the charity to Hamas.
Borsh said when tunnel openings were exposed in houses handled by the UNDP, Hamas would take control and confiscate weapons and other materials in violation of United Nations procedures, which mandate that UNMAS, the United Nations body responsible for dealing with remnants of war, be immediately notified.
According to the ISA, the case exemplifies “how Hamas exploits the resources of worldwide aid organisations at the expense of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip”.
The Shin Bet said el-Halabi siphoned about $7.2 million a year to the Islamic militant group over a period of five years.
“Along with that, we must increase the oversight of the moneys that flow to human rights organizations, which are repeatedly used to transfer money to terrorist groups”, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said in a statement, the Times of Israel reported.
Hamas, an Islamist political and militant group, seeks the creation of an independent state of Palestine and wants Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it occupied after the 1967 war.
Israel said it had informed UNDP of the charges but the United Nations agency did not immediately respond to the claims.
Israel and Hamas has fought three wars over the past decade.
Israeli authorities have also accused a Gaza-based employee of Save the Children of having been recruited by Halabi to assist the Qassam Brigades. Strict rules set out by the U.S., European Union, and others do not allow aid money to support Hamas, since it is listed as a terrorist organization. While on August 1, Save the Children organization said that it would begin investigation following similar accusations made by Israel.
“If we published two, just think how many there are besides”.
“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.
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“These (allegations) are par for the course of an Israeli plot to restrict the work of worldwide relief agencies operating in Gaza in order to tighten the Gaza blockade”, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.
