Israeli charges based on ‘huge gap’ in numbers — World Vision

The international charity World Vision said on Monday that Israel has accused the charity's Gaza Strip director of funnelling what appears to be an impossible sum of money to Hamas, The Associated Press reported.

Israel's Shin Bet agency said Mohammed Al Halabi siphoned about $7.2 million a year to Hamas over a period of five years. The agency said this is roughly 60 per cent of World Vision's total Gaza budget.

World Vision Germany spokeswoman Silvia Holten said the charity's budget in Gaza in the last decade totalled $22.5 million. She said World Vision has stopped its Gaza operations while investigations continue. Germany and Australia suspended donations to World Vision in Gaza amid the allegations.

Meanwhile, the United Nations expressed "serious concerns" Monday over allegations the aid worker passed millions of dollars to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and its armed wing, Agence France-Presse reported.

"Redirecting relief away from its intended beneficiaries would be a profound betrayal of the trust put in a senior manager by his employer and by the organisation's donors," said Robert Piper, UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The allegations against Halabi “raise serious concerns for humanitarian organisations working in Gaza”, Piper said in a statement.

Piper said it was important Halabi received a fair trial, with his lawyer telling AFP Friday that he had initially been held without access to a lawyer for several weeks.

Lawyer Mohammed Mahmoud denied all the allegations.

“They have inflated everything and tomorrow you will see how that balloon deflates.”

Germany and Australia, the two major Western nations to donate to World Vision’s Gaza projects, have suspended their funding pending the investigation.

The German foreign ministry said it would review projects already completed to assess if any “irregularities were committed”.