Israel releases Palestinian women's team footballer

Israeli authorities have released a player on the Palestinian national women’s football team following six days in detention after she was summoned by Jerusalem police, her mother told AFP on Monday.

Wissam Halawani said Israeli police released her daughter Rand Halawani, 20, at around 8:30 pm (1730 GMT) on Sunday, with a five-day house arrest order.

Wissam Halawani told AFP that she had “gone through very difficult times over the past few days” following her daughter’s detention, and that she now felt “overwhelming joy” after her return home.

Israeli police did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for confirmation of Halawani’s release.

The Palestinian Football Association celebrated Halawani’s release in a statement late Sunday.

“Rand Halawani breathes freedom… the release of our national women’s team player after her arrest last Tuesday,” the association said in a social media post, accompanied by a poster showing her wearing the Palestinian national team’s red kit.

Israeli police said last week that Halawani had been arrested along with an 18-year-old man in relation to an incident in Jerusalem in which objects were allegedly thrown from a balcony at demonstrators marching on a street below.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, the main rights group for Palestinian prisonners, said in a statement on Monday that that the number of female prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention camps has risen to around 95.

It added that “the number of female prisoners changes daily due to ongoing and escalating arrest campaigns in the West Bank, including Jerusalem”.

The number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons stands at around 9,500, according to figures released by the organisation last week.