The Australian government said on Friday that no evidence has been found that any of its funds to the Christian charitable organization World Vision had been diverted to Hamas Movement.
The Israeli Internal Security Agency accused the Gaza director of World Vision Mohammed al-Halabi in August 2016 of transferring 50 million dollars to Hamas to help the Movement dig tunnels and buy weapons.
Both Australia and Germany suspended their funding to the organization following these allegations. The case is still pending at an Israeli court.
The spokesman of the Administration of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the Australian government said “The Administration conducted a review and nothing was found indicating that we had any knowledge of the alleged negligence by Mr. Halabi” adding that they are waiting for the Israeli court to either acquit or convict him.
He continued “The Australian funding will remain suspended until we examine the results of these operations.”
World Vision welcomed the findings reached by the Australian government.
A World Vision spokesman said “We are deeply concerned about this situation and saddened by its impact on the children of Gaza and their families.”
He emphasized that the international community’s aid provides a lifeline for more than 1.1 million Gazans noting that one in four children in Gaza needs psychological and social support.
Along with Halabi members of two other organizations were accused of helping Hamas by Israel including an engineer working in a UN development project and a coordinator working for a humanitarian agency run by the Turkish government.
Hamas condemned the Israeli allegations and described them as attempts to intimidate organizations against providing humanitarian services to the people of Gaza who have been living under tight blockade since 2006.
