Australian woman Madeleine Habib has been released from an Israeli prison, four days after a ship she captained as part of another Gaza-bound aid flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli military in international waters.
A source close to Habib said she was released on Sunday morning Israel time, along with other activists from the freedom flotilla, and taken to the Jordan border.
Habib is the eighth Australian who travelled on a humanitarian flotilla to be detained by Israeli authorities and subsequently released.
The experienced mariner and long-time humanitarian activist was arrested on 8 October and detained in Israel’s Ketziot prison for allegedly “illegally seeking to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza”.
Australian consular officials who visited Habib in jail the following day were told she could remain in Israel “indefinitely” unless she agreed to sign a waiver. Habib had refused to sign the document.
Guardian Australia understands the waiver required detainees to acknowledge they had sought to illegally break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza.
It was not known on Sunday if Habib signed the waiver before being released. Previously, at least one flotilla member who did not sign was nevertheless released, sources have said.
Habib previously told Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) officials who visited that she had experienced “degradation but no physical abuse” in custody.
Habib said she had been provided access to her lawyer but had eaten only “stale bread” and drank “brown” tap water.
The high-security prison in the Negev desert where she was held is known for its detention of Palestinian security prisoners– many of whom Israel accuses of involvement in militant or terrorist activities.
A Dfat spokesperson earlier on Sunday said it had raised the treatment and welfare of Australians detained in Israel with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv and Canberra.
“We understand that people want to help deliver aid to those suffering in Gaza – we also want to see critical aid delivered,” the spokesperson said.
“For some time, we have warned against attempts to breach the naval blockade and strongly advised Australians not to do so because of the risks to their safety. We repeat our call on Israel to enable the sustained, unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
Habib’s ship, the Conscience, departed from Italy for Gaza in early October and reportedly carried about 100 volunteers, including medics and journalists, along with vital aid. It was intercepted days before the Donald Trump-brokered ceasefire deal was announced.
The Conscience was part of a flotilla comprising nine ships, all of which were intercepted in the early hours on Wednesday morning.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of Australians around the country marched at pro-Palestine demonstrations. In Sydney, the organisers suggested they would continue to march until aid organisations were let into Gaza and the strip was rebuilt.
Surya McEwen, a passenger on the previously intercepted Sumud flotilla who arrived in Australia on Friday after being detained by Israel, said flotilla activists would continue to try to deliver aid by sea “as long as there is a situation where there’s a brutal and illegal blockade on Gaza”.
Guardian Australia sought comment from the Israeli embassy in Australia and the Israeli government regarding Habib’s detention and release.
