Mohammed Al Halabi, right, is seen talking to children in his work as Gaza program manager for World Vision. Credit:World Vision International A senior official with Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Halabi was recruited by Hamas' military wing in 2004 and instructed to infiltrate World Vision and to try to reach an influential position. Briefing reporters on Thursday in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, the official said that Halabi became the manager of the Gaza branch of World Vision in 2010 and had subsequently transferred about 60 per cent of World Vision's annual budget for Gaza to Hamas. The official said that some of the money had been used by Hamas militants to dig cross-border tunnels for the purpose of carrying out attacks in Israeli territory. Donations were also allegedly used to build a Hamas military base and 2500 food packages meant for needy families in Gaza were transferred to Hamas battalions, according to the anonymous official. In addition, Halabi is accused of having initiated a greenhouse project designed to hide tunnel work. A project for the rehabilitation of fishermen was, in practice, used to provide motorboats and diving suits for Hamas' military marine unit, Israeli authorities said.

An Israeli soldier emerges from a tunnel built by Hamas militants leading from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel in August 2014. Credit:Getty Images The allegations could not be independently verified. The Shin Bet official said that officers raided the organisation's offices in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, emphasising that there was no evidence from the investigation and interrogation of Halabi that World Vision had been aware of the misuse of its funds. World Vision said in a statement on Thursday that "we have no reason to believe the allegations are true" based on the available information. Tim Costello, the chief executive of World Vision Australia, which has been deeply involved in the Gaza project, said his organisation was nevertheless "very worried" about the impact of the accusations on its ability to raise funds and work.

"We are profoundly shocked by these allegations," Costello said. "We want to get to the bottom of this, we want the truth." Costello said he did not think it was appropriate for Israeli authorities to publicly accuse Halabi and World Vision of the diversion before they had had a chance to review the evidence. He added that Halabi was prevented from consulting a lawyer for the first 25 days of his detention. "We just really want a fair process, where Mohammad, once charged, gets to present his side, because we want to know the truth about this," he said. "The truth comes out when you hear both sides." Costello said much of the organisation's work in Gaza was providing "safe places" for children to deal with the trauma of repeated war, as well as agricultural projects. The budgets came from World Vision's offices in the United States, Australia and Britain, and from contributions through the Australian and British government. In March, Australia's ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, was shown around some of the Gaza aid projects by a party that included Halabi (left):

Hamas representatives were quick to dismiss the Israeli accusations, saying they had no faith in confessions obtained by Israeli intelligence officials, while maintaining that Palestinians were legitimately allowed to use all means to defend themselves. "We do not trust the occupation, nor the information coming from the occupation," said Yehia Mousa, a Hamas legislator in Gaza, referring to Israel. "The occupation employs false stories and spreads them." Israel withdrew its forces and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but continues to strictly control movement in and out of the Palestinian enclave, with the help of Egypt. The Shin Bet official said that while the investigation did not implicate World Vision in the purported scheme to divert funds, it did reveal an abysmal lack of monitoring and supervision by the organisation of its donations and projects.

"Hamas stole tens of millions of dollars from disabled and poor Palestinian children to build a war machine," said David Keyes, a spokesman for the Israeli government. "That tells you everything you need to know about that terrorist organisation." Israeli officials have raised suspicions before about the Palestinian employees of aid organisations, saying some sympathised with Hamas. World Vision previously suspended a separate program in 2012 after an Israeli group accused the aid agency of supporting a Palestinian terrorist group, but an investigation by Australia's then aid agency, AusAID, found that the claims could not be substantiated. Shin Bet said its investigation of Halabi had pointed to additional figures in the Gaza Strip who exploited their work in humanitarian aid organisations and UN institutions on behalf of Hamas. But the agency had found nothing previously on the scale of the deception Halabi is accused of, which the Shin Bet official described as "extraordinary". Halabi appeared to command respect in the humanitarian aid world, who said he had dedicated his life to helping children after seeing the devastating impact of the conflicts in Gaza.

In an interview published on World Vision's website, Halabi said he found the most rewarding aspect of his work was when "we manage to restore the smiles of children who are severely traumatised by the devastating bombs which killed part or all of their families." In a separate piece, published in August 2014 by The Sydney Morning Herald, he said he himself had lost eight relatives to airstrikes during Israel's 2014 Operation Protective Edge. One of those relatives was pregnant, he said, and doctors aborted her child in a failed effort to save her life. World Vision said its Gaza programs were "subject to regular internal and independent audits, independent evaluations and a broad range of internal controls aimed at ensuring that assets reach their intended beneficiaries and are used in compliance with applicable laws and donor requirements". Others in Gaza expressed alarm over the allegations. Hamdi Shaqqura, the deputy director of programs at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, an independent organisation based in Gaza, said that the accusations against Halabi could have "serious implications" for non-governmental funding in the Gaza Strip, which is almost entirely dependent on international aid as a result of Israel's occupation and its subsequent blockade.

Shaqqura, whose organisation has been critical of both Hamas and Israel, cautioned that Israel's security service had "published the accusations - they say he confessed - but the court has not decided". New York Times, with Fairfax Media