Aid theft allegations part of 'Israeli plot' says Hamas

The Islamist group, which rules the Gaza Strip, said the claims were part of an Israeli plot to further increase the harsh blockade imposed on the small self-governing enclave.

An Israeli court on August 4 charged World Vision's Gaza head Mohammad al-Halabi with funding "terror," while a UN engineer was indicted on Tuesday on allegations of working with Hamas' military wing.

"The Israeli claims are baseless and are merely an attempt to distort the image of the resistance movement in Gaza," Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, told The New Arab.

"The false accusations are an attempt to justify the oppressive siege and further tighten the noose on the Strip."

He said that Israeli authorities have recently come under fire at home for failing to recover the bodies of slain soldiers in Gaza, pushing them to create "imaginary achievements" to appease public opinion.

"It's obvious that Israel wants to terrorise the international aid agencies operating in Gaza into cutting their relief and contain growing sympathies for the Palestinian cause around the world," Qassem added.

	Netanyahu: I care more about Palestinians than their leaders [Getty]

World Vision, while taking the allegations seriously, has said it has seen no evidence presented by Israel and has poured scorn on numbers presented by the Israeli security services that said more than $7 million a year was stolen.

It said in a statement the "cumulative operating budget in Gaza for the past 10 years was approximately $22.5 million, which makes the alleged amount of up to $50 million being diverted hard to reconcile."

Academic Ibrahim al-Madhoun said that "political motives" were behind the move.

"Everyone in Gaza will pay the price of this crackdown. These organisations provide assistance and much-needed aid," Madhoun told The New Arab.

"This is all part of an Israeli plot to harass aid workers and deter them from continuing their efforts. I expect more arrests within the next coming weeks under the pretext of supporting the Palestinian resistance."

A 2014 war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas left more than 2,200 Palestinians dead, the majority of them civilians and including over 500 children.

Israel has maintained a tight blockade on Gaza for a decade, restricting access of many basic goods. Thirty-eight percent of Palestinians in Gaza are unemployed.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu claimed he cared more about the Palestinian people than their leaders do, in his first response to allegations of aid theft by Hamas.

"I, the prime minister of Israel, care more about Palestinians than their own leaders do," Netanyahu said in a video posted online, which has provoked outrage from Palestinians.