Israel frees Turk after charging her with aiding Hamas

JERUSALEM: Israel has released a Turkish woman who had been arrested while visiting on a tourist visa and accused of helping the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in a case that angered Ankara, Israel and her lawyer said on Monday. Turkey threatened retaliation after Ebru Ozkan´s detention last month. The ex-allies have long been at loggerheads over Israeli policy toward the Palestinians and Jerusalem´s status. Ozkan´s lawyer, Omar Khamaisi, said she flew to Istanbul on Sunday, a week after an Israeli military court indicted her. An appeals court had ordered her freed and returned her passport, he told Reuters, adding: “The indictment still stands, but I think that will be cancelled too. “The Turkish news agency Anadlou quoted Ozkan, upon landing, as thanking President Tayyip Erdogan for having been “kind enough to be very interested in my case”. Commenting on the decision to release Ozkan, an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “There are a number of factors behind this decision, including the amount of time she had already spent in detention and the fact that the charges weren´t especially grave in the first place.”