Israel releases Palestinian female football player Rand al-Halawani after detention

Israeli authorities released Palestinian female football player Rand al-Halawani on Monday after detaining her for about a week, Palestinian authorities said.

The Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement that Halawani, 20, a member of the women’s national football team, was placed under house arrest for five days.

Halawani was summoned Tuesday for questioning at the Talpiot police station in west Jerusalem before she was arrested and referred to a court, which ordered her detention extended.

Videos shared on social media showed the moment Halawani was released and reunited with her family after being held for nearly a week.

Former squad player Natalie Abu Diya remains in Israeli custody after Israeli forces detained her on Tuesday during a raid on her home in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Dima Youssef, spokesperson for the Palestinian Football Association, said the arrests of Halawani and Abu Diya “were not an isolated incident” but rather part of a “systematic targeting of Palestinian athletes.”

Yousef said the detentions constitute “a clear violation of FIFA regulations and the principles that guarantee the protection of athletes.”

Palestinian institutions say the sports sector has been among the hardest hit as targeting has expanded to include players, clubs and sports facilities amid Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and its repercussions in the occupied West Bank.

*Writing by Lina Altawell in Istanbul