Mohammed El Halabi was jailed in 2016 over alleged funding of Hamas but not convicted

A lawyer representing a Palestinian aid worker alleged to have diverted tens of millions of pounds to Hamas has accused Israel of dragging out the secretive trial for three years despite a lack of evidence.

Maher Hanna said the state should dismiss the case against his client, Mohammed El Halabi, but is unwilling to back down after it made the claims in 2016.

After 126 court sessions, the trial against the former Gaza director of the Christian charity World Vision continues with no clear end. “The justice system in Israel, since Israel was created, has never seen something like that,” said Hanna. “It’s very unique.”

From the beginning, the case has been mired in controversy and confusing accusations. Israel’s Shin Bet security service said Halabi transferred more than $7m (£5.4m) a year to the Palestinian militant group that rules the enclave. World Vision retorted that its entire operating budget in Gaza – regularly audited – was far less than that amount.

Since then, internal World Vision investigations and an inquiry by the Australian government, which had donated funds, also found no evidence money had been misused.

During hearings, all held under tight security, Hanna said he had been unable to properly cross-examine witnesses from the security services, as they were often put behind a physical wall to hide their identity.

He said he had also been prevented from taking home many records of the sessions, and that critical evidence was also often denied to him, as much of it was confidential.

“It’s completely unprecedented. There was no procedure like that in the history of Israel,” he said. “It’s extremely unfair, extremely unbalanced, extremely untruthful.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Halabi before a 2016 hearing at the Beersheba district court in southern Israel. Photograph: Dudu Grunshpan/Reuters

Hanna has been attempting to bring witnesses from Gaza, but has been warned that as some are linked to the case, they would be arrested as soon as they left Gaza. In October, he asked the court for them to appear via video conference, but has not heard back.

When Israel first detained Halabi, it held him for 50 days without access to his lawyer, then claimed he had admitted to being a Hamas member with military training and to diverting the money.

Halabi, however, has claimed his innocence and has been said to have rejected a plea deal offered to him in exchange for admitting to some charges.

“They want to convince him to admit to something he did not do. Even silly charges, any charges,” said his father, Khalil Halabi, who also spent his career in the humanitarian sector and worked for the UN Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, including as its education director in Gaza. “His case embarrasses the government; they need anything from him.”

He claimed his son had been beaten in jail and had lost 40% of his hearing. Israeli officials did not offer any specific response to the allegations.

Khalil Halabi argues his son is ideologically opposed to Hamas, and made efforts to make sure the group was unable to interfere in his aid work, something World Vision has also said.

The 42-year-old father of five remains in prison. More than 4,700 Palestinian security detainees and political prisoners are held by Israel, some of them under administrative detention, which allows authorities to detain people without charge or trial.

The Israeli foreign ministry repeated in a statement that Halabi had illegally misappropriated funds from World Vision and redirected them to Hamas.

“All of the accusations against Mr El-Halabi are well-founded in evidential material and we reject any claims to the contrary,” it said, without specifying. “For that reason, and because of the security risk he poses, the court has ruled that he should be remanded until the end of the proceedings.”

The justice ministry said that dozens of witnesses had testified and the case would take time. “As to the allegation of concealing the identity of some of the prosecution’s witnesses, these are Shin Bet witnesses whose identities are protected by law,” a spokesperson said in a email. They said some evidence was also classified to the public but shared with the defendant and his lawyer.

Israel, along with Egypt, has maintained a crippling blockade on Gaza for a decade. It says the measure is for its own security and to pressure Hamas, although the UN slams it a collective punishment for the 2 million people trapped there.

For Hanna, his client’s case is another tool to enforce the blockade. After Halabi was arrested in 2016, World Vision suspended operations and later cancelled the contracts of 120 Palestinian employees in Gaza. As one of the largest non-governmental groups working in Gaza, its aid had benefited nearly 40,000 children. Meanwhile, the Australian government froze its donations pending the results of Halabi’s trial.

“They wanted to stop the humanitarian work in Gaza,” said Hanna. “And to be honest, they succeeded.”