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Israel releases senior Hamas figure from detention in West Bank

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Israeli authorities released Thursday a senior Hamas figure Sheikh Hassan Yousef a year after his detention amid an Israeli military operation in the West Bank.

The Israeli Prison Service's spokesperson confirmed that Yousef, 60, was released Thursday from the Ofer Prison near Ramallah, where he had been placed in administrative detention in the past year.

Yousef, one of the founding members of the Islamic movement Hamas in the West Bank, is known as part of the organization's more moderate faction and is considered as a spiritual leader as well by its followers.

He was arrested during a crackdown on Hamas operatives in the West Bank by the Israeli military following the kidnapping of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June 2014.

The crackdown resulted in a considerable damage of Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank and the arrest of hundreds of Hamas operatives.

During his administrative detention, no charges were brought against Yousef and his incarceration period was extended three times.

Yousef was jailed several times in the past years for his "involvement in a terrorist organization." Endit