ISRAEL charged a UN develop­ment worker yesterday with aiding Hamas in Gaza in the latest phase of its crackdown on aid work there.

Palestinian engineer Waheed Borsh, who has worked for the UN development programme (UNDP) since 2003, was accused of providing “material assistance” to the political movement.

Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency claimed Mr Borsch had been recruited by “a senior member of the Hamas terrorist organisation to redirect his work for UNDP to serve Hamas’s military interests.”