Malak al-Khatib was sentenced to two months in prison after picking up a stone on Highway 60 in the West Bank

A 14-year-old Palestinian girl sentenced to an Israeli jail for stone-throwing has been released after serving 44 days of a two-month sentence.

Malak al-Khatib from the village of Beitin near Ramallah was charged in a West Bank military court last month with stone throwing and possession of a knife. In a plea bargain reached due to her young age, she was given a reduced sentence of two months, a $1,500 fine and three years’ probation.

According to the Israel police’s Judea and Samaria division, Khatib was arrested on 31 December after she was caught picking up a stone on Highway 60 in the West Bank, which serves Israeli and Palestinian vehicles. Her face was covered. Only after they arrested her did they realise she was a girl. She was remanded in custody for three weeks before seeing a judge.

She reportedly confessedthat she intended to throw stones at Israeli cars and was going to stab an official that tried to arrest her.

“A 14-year-old girl surrounded by Israeli soldiers will admit to anything,” Khatib’s father Ali told AFP at the time. “She would admit to holding a nuclear weapon if she were accused.”

Israeli military law treats stone throwing as a serious crime, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Khatib is one of about 200 Palestinian minors serving sentences in Israeli prisons. Her story garnered international attention because out of the four girls currently in Israel’s prison system, she was the youngest. Her face was seen in posters throughout the West Bank over the last month and waved at weekly protests against the separation barrier.

According to a spokesperson for the Israel prison service, Khatib was released two weeks early due to an administrative protocol that allows early release based on how many prisoners are currently held and relative to the full length of their sentences.