In spite of Halabi’s confession, his defense attorney says his client is innocent and that Hamas had brazenly stolen World Vision materials for its own use.
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Al-Borsh has been working with the UNDP since 2003, Shin Bet claims he is being directed by a senior Hamas official to use his position in aid the movement.
Nearly immediately after the indictment against the UNDP employee was announced, pro-Israel pressure group “UN Watch” urged action at what it called “the apparently pervasive subversion in Gaza of UN and other global humanitarian aid funds by Hamas”.
The UNDP did not have an immediate response to the allegations, but said it planned to release a statement “within the hour”.
Hamas labeled the allegations “incorrect and baseless”. A spokesperson, Sami Abu Zurhi, called the accusations “false and baseless”, saying they were created to allow Israel to strengthen its “siege” of Gaza. “They are part of a plan to further the siege of the Gaza Strip by means of worldwide aid institutions”, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
“Last year, our work in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza, directly benefitted more than 92,000 children; almost 40,000 of those were in Gaza”.
A United Nations official has been arrested by Israel for allegedly abusing his position to support Hamas.
And in 2012, Richard Stearns, president of World Vision’s affiliate in the USA, falsely accused Israel of denying Palestinian Christians the ability to attend Easter services in Jerusalem, stating that Israel only handed out 2,000-3,000 permits to these groups, when in fact it provided more than 20,000 permits.
The UNDP carries out reconstruction and development projects for the civilians in Gaza.
It said he had confessed to a number of charges, including helping to build a jetty in the northern Gaza Strip, with UNDP funding, that was later used by Hamas’ naval forces.
Also in 2015, he acted to persuade UNDP managers to prioritize the rehabilitation of housing in areas populated by Hamas members.
Israel made clear “its expectation that the United Nations, and especially its aid agencies, will unequivocally condemn Hamas for exploiting the humanitarian aid system for its own aims”, he said.
“Foreign NGOs want to give money to Gaza”, Darshan-Leitner said, even as they “ignore all the signs that their money is diverted to terrorism”.
Last Thursday Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, indicted the director of World Vision in the Gaza strip for siphoning off millions in charity money and funneling it to Hamas.
Its president Kevin Jenkins said in a statement the organisation was conducting an investigation into the allegations but “have not seen any of the evidence”.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon called on the worldwide body to take rapid action against Hamas.
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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The veteran aid worker said accounts of Hamas seizing aid are among the reasons for “stringent diversion policy”.
