Israel's internal security agency has arrested a senior employee of the international aid group accusing him of siphoning millions of dollars of the charity's funds and transferring them to the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Mohammed el-Halabi established a "systematic and sophisticated mechanism" to divert up to 50 million dollars (£38 million) over the years to the militant group, which rules Gaza, creating fictitious humanitarian projects and doctoring inflated receipts in order to get the funds to Hamas, said the Shin Bet.
Mohammad El-Halabi
The agency said almost £70,000 of British money was wrongly spent on a Hamas military base built in 2015.
Premier understands this money did not come from the UK Government but instead from charities and organisations within the UK.
A spokesperson for the Department for International Development (DFID) told Premier the department had never given World Vision money to spend in Gaza or the Palestinian territory.
But he confirmed DFID had supplied cash for other projects around the world run by World Vision.
There was "no suggestion" that cash had been redirected to Gaza, he added.
He confirmed the allegations were being taken seriously and the government was urgently seeking clarity on the accusations from Israel and World Vision.
"We are in touch with the Israeli authorities to establish the full details of the allegations against this individual and would not hesitate to act if wrongdoing involving UK government funding became apparent and was proven," a statement from DFID said.
Meanwhile Australia has become the first country to suspend its funding programme for World Vision after confirming it had invested £3.3m in Gaza through the charity.
A spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the accusations were "deeply troubling" and it was contact with World Vision and the Israeli authorities.
"We are suspending the provision of further funding to World Vision for programs in the Palestinian Territories until the investigation is complete," a statement said.
