Israel has announced that a second Palestinian official with an international aid organisation in Gaza has been arrested and charged with providing assistance to Hamas.
Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency alleges that Waheed al Borsh, 38, an engineer working for the UN development programme (UNDP) confessed to using the aid agency’s resources to build a jetty for Hamas naval forces.
Shin Bet also claims Borsh persuaded his managers to prioritise areas where Hamas members lived when rebuilding houses damaged in conflicts with Israel.
It follows the indictment late last week of the Gaza manager of the charity World Vision for allegedly funnelling millions of dollars to help Hamas build tunnels, purchase arms and construct military bases.
Details of such investigations and confessions, often gathered after a lengthy period under interrogation and with no initial access to a lawyer, are almost impossible to independently verify.
The latest arrest appears to be part of a concerted effort by Israel to suggest a problem with the infiltration of aid organisations in Gaza, with the Israeli government instructing its diplomats to highlight the issue with foreign governments.
Gaza has been heavily dependent on foreign aid since Hamas took over – and following three wars between Israel and Hamas – corruption is a widespread problem in the coastal enclave. More than two-thirds of the population of the Gaza Strip, which Israel has blockaded for a decade, are reliant upon some form of aid, according to the UN.
While Hamas itself publishes budget figures for part of its governance, the funding of its military wing – covering the building of military tunnels and bases – is hidden, although Israel has long accused it of diverting civilian materiel.
The latest Shin Bet statement claimed Borsh, from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, had been recruited by “a senior member of the Hamas terrorist organisation to redirect his work for UNDP to serve Hamas’ military interests”.
It alleged he had confessed to a number of charges, including helping to build a jetty in the northern Gaza Strip, with UNDP funding, which was later used by Hamas naval forces. In 2015 he allegedly persuaded managers to focus on rebuilding houses in areas where Hamas members lived after the group put pressure on him.
No figures were provided on how much aid money he was alleged to have diverted. During the investigation, the statement said, Borsh allegedly admitted that “other Palestinians who work for aid organisations are also working for Hamas”.
The statement said the charges demonstrate “how Hamas exploits the resources of international aid organisations at the expense of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip”.
Israeli officials said that the country’s foreign ministry informed the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and the UNDP after the latest arrest in July and that Israel had demanded an inquiry.
Replying to the allegations, UNDP said that Borsh had been employed as a contractor to help move rubble and that he had been accused of transporting 300 tons from a UNDP rubble removal project site to a Hamas-run location at the Northern Gaza Hamas-operated port.
“UNDP has zero tolerance for wrongdoing in all of its programmes and projects [and] is greatly concerned by the allegation from the Israeli authorities with respect to the UNDP contractor who has been providing professional services within the rubble removal project,” it said in a statement.
“The rubble removal project was established to respond to the consequences of the 2014 hostilities in Gaza. Through this project, UNDP has removed more than one million tons of rubble as well as 2,761 unexploded ordnances. The allegations concerning Mr. Al Bursh by the Israeli authorities refer to 300 tons of the more than one million tons removed, or 7 truckloads out of a total of nearly 26,000.”
Hamas has denied the allegations. A spokesperson, Sami Abu Zurhi, called the accusations “false and baseless”, saying they were designed to allow Israel to strengthen its “siege” of Gaza.
The last case saw charges brought against Mohammed al-Halabi, the Gaza head of the US-based NGO World Vision. According to Shin Bet, Halabi had diverted $7.2m (£5.5m) each year since 2010 to Hamas and its military wing.
Halabi is also accused of recruiting an individual from Save the Children to Hamas. Since the high-profile case emerged, Australia and Germany have announced they are suspending donations to World Vision.
On Tuesday, World Vision International questioned the allegations, saying the numbers suggested by Israeli investigators as having been transferred to Hamas appeared to total far in excess of the actual budget for World Vision in Gaza.
In a statement the Christian evangelical charity’s president, Kevin Jenkins, said that while World Vision was conducting an investigation into the allegations it had “not seen any of the evidence”.
“World Vision’s cumulative operating budget in Gaza for the past 10 years was approximately $22.5m, which makes the alleged amount of up to $50m being diverted hard to reconcile,” the statement read.
Hamas has denied that Halabi was a member.
Since 2008, Israel has fought three wars in Gaza with Hamas. The group has been categorised as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and the EU.
