Hamas terrorist in Gaza
Hamas terrorist in GazaEmad Nassar/Flash 90

Israel's Foreign Ministry on Friday rejected claims by foreign governments that it had failed to respond to their request for information regarding the alleged transfer of international aid funds to Hamas in Gaza.

Recently, it was revealed that World Vision, a multi-billion dollar Christian charity with more than 45,000 employees, unknowingly funded the Hamas terror group in Gaza for roughly a decade after a member of Hamas, Muhammad Halabi, infiltrated World Vision in 2005.

In a separate case, Israel arrested Waheed Al-Borsh, an employee of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for assisting Hamas.

“The claim that Israel had not updated the donor countries to World Vision and UNDP regarding the background of the arrest of the suspects is incorrect,” the Foreign Ministry said on Friday afternoon.

“Since the indictments against UNDP and World vision personnel on their involvement in Hamas terror activities, relevant information has been conveyed, through various channels, to the countries involved in the humanitarian activity,” it stressed.

“The Foreign Ministry will continue coordinating the transfer of information.”

The global body of World Vision has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing, but Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold estimated recently that Halabi “managed to transfer in the decade of his work at World Vision...tens of millions of dollars."

"At the very least, that means there was no supervision of his activities,” he said.

Following the disclosure of the Hamas infiltration into World Vision, Australia announced it would cut funding to the group.

On Thursday, meanwhile, the UN’s Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) demanded that Borsh be released on grounds of “diplomatic immunity”, a demand rejected by Israel which pointed out that “those who support terror cannot hide behind the claim of immunity.”

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)