Deputy head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has denied that the movement had any links to UN and international NGO employees who have been detained by Israel in the past few months on accusations of supplying funds to Hamas.
Earlier this month, the Israeli government accused a Palestinian employee of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Gaza of diverting funds to the Hamas movement, nearly a week after it announced Israeli forces had detained a Palestinian employee of NGO World Vision on similar grounds.
During a meeting with a Norwegian diplomat, Haniyeh condemned the Israeli detention campaign against staff of international organizations working in the besieged Gaza Strip.
(IMAGE) #HAMAS: Haniyeh continues to deny that NGO workers diverted funds and material to Hamas in Gaza pic.twitter.com/G9CBN9KNie
— American Jihad Watch (@Watcherone) August 11, 2016
Haniyeh emphasized: “Israeli claims that international organization employees are affiliated to Hamas are completely false.”
On Tuesday, Hamas senior spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, called the Israeli allegations “invalid and untrue,” adding that Hamas saw them as forming “part of Israel’s plan to reinforce the siege on the Gaza Strip by going after international organizations working in Gaza.”
(PC, MEMO)
