Internal Hamas documents show the militant group spied on and interrogated World Vision staff and suspected whistleblowers as part of a co-ordinated effort to obstruct an Israeli terrorism trial involving the charity’s former Gaza director, sharpening scrutiny of Australian-funded aid programs in the region.
The documents, captured by the Israel Defence Forces over the past two years, highlight the process by which Hamas closely monitored lengthy closed-door Israeli court proceedings, identified and interrogated suspected leakers in Gaza, and acted to prevent potential witnesses from reaching Israel to testify.
Several reports seen by this masthead, authored by Hamas’ Ministry of Interior and National Security, allege that World Vision’s former Gaza director Mohammed al-Halabi used his senior role inside the international aid agency while secretly working for Hamas, and that the proscribed group treated his exposure as a major internal security failure.
Halabi was arrested by Israel in June 2016 and convicted in 2022 of diverting millions in humanitarian aid and materials to Hamas. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and released in February 2025 as part of a prisoner-hostage swap between Israel and Hamas.
At the time of the case, World Vision, which receives millions of dollars in donations annually, was one of the Australian government’s largest aid partners in the Palestinian territories.
The aid worker’s lengthy detention, combined with little publicly released evidence of his guilt, led to international condemnation of Israel’s justice system.
A document dated March 11, 2020, authored by Hamas’ branch of counterespionage and submitted to the director of the division, notes that “the aforementioned [Halabi] was in contact with [only a] very few parties of brothers in the positive [a term for Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades]” – or members of Hamas’ military wing – and describes urgent efforts to determine how Israeli authorities uncovered his activities.
The reports show Hamas assumed the key witness against Halabi came from inside World Vision’s Gaza office. One report states that “all the names of employees working in the association were detailed” and checked against Hamas security databases.
Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor was given access to documents that were removed from Gaza and declassified by the IDF.
Previous releases of purported Hamas documents have proved controversial, after an IDF investigation found some files leaked to foreign media were forged by Hamas to shape public opinion on Israel.
The probe raised concerns that classified material seized in Gaza – or documents only alleged to have been taken from Hamas — was being manipulated and fed to international outlets to influence debate, prompting anger within Israel’s security establishment.
The IDF confirmed to this masthead the legitimacy of the documents, which were later translated by NGO Monitor and checked independently by this masthead. Several attempts were made to verify them through Hamas’ legal representation in Australia and Europe.
NGO Monitor, which is privately funded, has attracted fierce criticism over many years from international aid groups for defaming human rights organisations that criticise the Israeli occupation through its research about aid work in Gaza.
Another document, dated March 3, 2020 and submitted to the director of the Hamas division of foreign activity, shows Hamas officials ordered the interrogation of World Vision staff suspected of co-operating with Israeli authorities, with aid workers placed under surveillance and their movements restricted.
Hamas was alerted that a World Vision employee had been asked to testify in an Israeli court. The documents state the employee was questioned by Hamas officials and that they later ordered World Vision staff be barred from exiting Gaza via the Beit Hanoun crossing to prevent testimony.
The papers also reveal Hamas had a source attending closed-door Israeli court proceedings in November 2019 who later provided a briefing to authorities in Gaza on what took place.
A central focus of Hamas’ internal investigation was a World Vision accountant, Mohammed Mehdi, who was later identified in Israeli court findings as a whistleblower. According to Israel’s 2022 verdict, the accountant reported that Halabi diverted World Vision funds to Hamas over several years using consistent methods. Judges found his account was supported by other evidence.
The Hamas documents state the accountant was among those interrogated by Hamas. Israeli judges noted that a copy of that interrogation was later found on Halabi’s personal computer, seized by Israeli security officials.
Lawyers for Halabi said the latest claims are “completely false and fabricated”.
When asked about the documents, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said it suspended funding for World Vision’s activities in the Palestinian Territories in August 2016.
A review found “nothing to suggest any diversion of government funds”, however DFAT has confirmed the review only covered information in its possession about the management of Australian funding.
In 2022-23, World Vision Australia received $39.9 million from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Much of the evidence used to indict Halabi remains classified, as does the 254-page ruling by the Beersheba District Court. A condensed version released to the press at the time leaned heavily on Halabi’s confession to Shin Bet security agents, which he later withdrew.
Halabi has continually denied the charges and accused the prosecution and the Shin Bet of manufacturing them, coercing a confession to undermine humanitarian organisations in Gaza and dragging out the case.
In its judgment, Israel’s Beersheba District Court found Halabi guilty of diverting humanitarian aid and construction materials to Hamas, supplying materials for tunnels, recruiting Hamas members, procuring weapons and manipulating World Vision tenders.
The court found that “the majority” of World Vision-funded food and hygiene packages were regularly distributed to Hamas military operatives, including during periods of armed conflict. The judges said that throughout his World Vision employment, Halabi met with Hamas military operatives to keep up with their needs.
Then World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello, at the time of the verdict, described it as “a travesty of justice”. Costello said last year he “burst into tears” when he learned Halabi would be freed as part of a swap with Israeli hostages.
“I know Mohammed. I know that he was an innocent man who has had 8½ years in prison,” he said.
Costello declined to comment on the documents when contacted by this masthead.
In reply to questions relating to the documents, World Vision said it condemns “any diversion of aid funding”, “any act of terrorism or support for those activities”, and repeated its claim that several reviews had found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Rights groups say Halabi was denied a fair and transparent trial, as he and World Vision had no chance to review the evidence against them, with all procedures shielded from the public and shrouded in secrecy.
Halabi told local media on his release that he was detained “just because we were giving the aid and the relief to the Gaza people”.
“But they [Israeli authorities] behave like a gang, they had no evidence, they convicted me with no evidence and they said to the world that they have a secret file, which does not exist.”
Israel attributed the closed hearings to sensitive security information.
After the 2022 conviction, World Vision Australia said it had “not seen anything” to make it question its conclusion that Halabi was innocent. It argued its Gaza programs were subject to regular audits and internal controls and that it had seen no credible evidence of aid diversion.
Audits by Germany and the US Agency for International Development also failed to show irregularities in the distribution of funds donated to the nonprofit.
NGO Monitor president Gerald Steinberg said the Hamas documents clearly demonstrate that attacks on the Israeli justice system from the leaders of World Vision Australia were “part of a fabricated smear campaign”.
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Rob Harris is the national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Canberra. He is a former Europe correspondent.Connect via email.