Palestinian Authority calls on UN to help release ex-Gaza aid worker

The Palestinian Authority yesterday called on the United Nations Security Council and Human Rights Council to intervene to release former Palestinian aid worker in the occupied Gaza Strip, Mohammed Al-Halabi.

In an official statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that the UN orgnaisations must “urgently intervene to secure Al-Halabi’s release.” The statement came a day before his 167th trial session.

“Al-Halabi’s trial proves, once again, how the occupation’s judicial system and its military institution work together to oppress the Palestinians,” the statement read.

Al-Halabi, a father of five children, has been detained in Israeli prisons since 2016 without any charges pressed against him. He was arrested as he passed through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, and accused of  “transferring funds to Hamas” at the time.

He was also reported by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club to have been subjected to “harsh interrogation, and physical and psychological torture for 52 days.”

On 22 March, the Australian Foreign Ministry said that an examination it had conducted for the World Vision International – for whom Al-Halabi worked – had proved that the accusations against Al-Halabi were “false”, adding that it had “evidence that he was not involved in helping Hamas.”

READ: Free Palestinian aid worker Mohammed El-Halabi