Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi exiled to Gaza Published duration 2 April 2012

image caption Hana Shalabi was taken to hospital for medical checks after arriving in Gaza

A Palestinian woman prisoner who had been on hunger strike for more than 40 days has been released by the Israeli authorities and exiled to Gaza.

Hana Shalabi, a 30-year-old supporter of Islamic Jihad, was placed in "administrative detention" in February because she was deemed a security risk.

She ended her hunger strike, in protest at being held without trial, in return for being sent to Gaza for three years.

Ms Shalabi will then be allowed to return home to Jenin, in the West Bank.

Israel had previously detained Ms Shalabi for 25 months, but released her in October under a deal that saw Gaza militants free the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

She was re-arrested on 16 February, allegedly for involvement in planned attacks by Islamic Jihad, Israeli officials said, but not charged.

Her family said she had not been active in Islamic Jihad since October.

'War crime'

Ms Shalabi was greeted by dozens of Islamic Jihad and Hamas supporters on arrival in the Gaza Strip via the Erez crossing on Sunday, after a tearful farewell with family members on the Israeli side.

However, Islamic Jihad said the welcome was subdued because her expulsion from the West Bank was a "war crime".

"My feeling of freedom is mixed with pain because I am leaving my family and town," Ms Shalabi told the al-Quds radio station. "God willing, we will gain freedom and all prisoners will be free."

She was later taken to hospital in Gaza City for medical checks.

The deal that saw Ms Shalabi end her hunger strike on 29 March was widely criticised.

The Palestinian prisoners' affairs ministry said she had been forced to accept the deportation, while the Palestinian prisoner support group Addameer and Israel's Physicians for Human Rights warned that "aspects" of the deal were "fundamentally at odds with international law".

"With no guarantees that she or her family will be permitted to travel, her expulsion could essentially become an extension of her previous isolation from her home and family while in prison," a joint statement said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had facilitated the meeting between Ms Shalabi and her family at the Erez crossing "on purely humanitarian grounds".

image caption The deal saw Ms Shalabi end her hunger strike has been widely criticised by international organisations

"However, the organisation urges the Israeli authorities to comply with international humanitarian law... which prohibits Israel, whatever its motives, from forcibly transferring Palestinians to another territory," it added.

But in a statement released through lawyer, Ms Shalabi insisted that she had agreed "freely" to her temporary exile.

"I chose to be transported to Gaza, which is half the homeland, and to be with my family and people there for three years," she said. "After that I will go back to my home in Jenin and to my family."

"I hope that my decision will be respected and that we will continue to support together those who are fighting their battles for the homeland and for the prisoners."