Mohammad al-Halabi speaks after being released from an Israeli prison on Saturday. (Supplied: Ubai Aboudi/X)
In short:
Mohammad al-Halabi, the former head of a World Vision Australian aid program in Gaza, was released from an Israeli prison on Saturday.
Mr al-Halabi was convicted in 2022 of funnelling money from the program to Hamas, though he maintained his innocence and investigations by both World Vision and the Australian government found no money was missing.
What's next?
Israel and Hamas continue to exchange hostages and prisoners as the ceasefire deal remains in place, but the second stage of negotiations is yet to take place.
The former manager of an Australian aid program has been freed from an Israeli prison in a hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Mohammad al-Halabi, the manager of an Australian-funded food security program run by the charity World Vision, was detained by Israeli security services in 2016 and later, in 2022, was convicted of funnelling money to Hamas.
He refused a plea deal and maintained he was innocent throughout the trial.
Mohammad al-Halabi was one of 72 Palestinian security prisoners — as distinct from detainees held without trial — released in exchange for three Israeli hostages on Saturday.
On his release inside Gaza, Mohammad al-Halabi again alleged he had been falsely imprisoned.
"They [the Israelis] detained me just because we were giving the aid and the relief to the Gaza people," he told local media in Gaza upon his release.
"They wanted to tighten the siege imposed over Gaza — this is what they said to me on the first day in detention.
"But they 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."
Much of the evidence against Mr al-Halabi was secret, with even his lawyer saying he was unable to view large sections of it.
Both a forensic audit by World Vision and an Australian government review found no aid money was missing, leading some observers to accuse Israel of prosecuting Mr al-Halabi in a bid to undermine aid programs in Gaza, something the Israeli government denied.
Mohammed al-Halabi is now barely recognisable compared to how he looked before his sentence. (Reuters: Dudu Grunshpan)
At the time of his trial, the Israeli government told the ABC: "All of the accusations against Mr Al Halabi are well-founded in evidential material and we reject any claims to the contrary."
The former chief executive of World Vision, Tim Costello, said he was enormously relieved to see Mr al-Halabi had been released.
"I burst into tears," he said.
"I know Mohammad, he had travelled out here to Australia. He'd won the Humanitarian International Development Award.
"[He] was a man of great integrity and to have served eight and a half years when he's got five children and now be released, I just spontaneously burst into tears.
"He was an innocent man. He pleaded not guilty even when he was encouraged to plead guilty because he would have got far less time. But he said 'I didn't do anything,' and he didn't.
"So I would have preferred that he have a not guilty verdict, but I am, despite these circumstances, very relieved that he is out, as I am with the Jewish hostages who have got out too."
Mr al-Halabi appeared gaunt and weak when he was released.
He alleged Israeli authorities tortured him to extract a confession early in his imprisonment, something the Israel government has denied.
Conny Lenneberg, a former regional director of World Vision in the Middle East, said she feared his health had been badly affected by his time in jail.
"I was so shocked. I worked very closely with Mohammed El Halabi," she said.
"I visited on many occasions and I frankly wouldn't have recognised him if he walked up to me in the street. He's totally hollowed out from the man that he was.
"He looks incredibly gaunt and incredibly unwell.
"I was [also] really overwhelmed by how much he continues to protest his innocence, and his passion for the humanitarian work that he's always been involved in."
Australia suspended its funding for the aid program after Mohammad al-Halabi's arrest, and Ms Lenneberg said his conviction had made it incredibly difficult to deliver aid to Gazans.
"This case should never have proceeded, and this case was based on no evidence … no matter what the security concerns were, this was about allegations of diversion of money, and so evidence should have been presented," she said.
"Everything has been done to investigate the allegations because it's not simply about Mohammad — who is obviously the most important individual in this — but it's about the continuation for many years of aid to Gaza, the coworkers and World Vision as a whole.
"So it's really disappointing that we're unable to resolve the case and that no evidence has ever been presented to actually support the allegations and the conviction that was in the end made."
