Zohar Chamberlain Regev, who was the only activist held back by Israel after the release of some 430 Gaza flotilla activists, was released Thursday under certain conditions.

The Jewish, Israeli-born woman converted to Islam at an unspecified point in her life, after working for years as an activist on behalf of Arabs in Gaza. She said in a 2024 interview that overcoming her atheism to join Islam presented an obstacle, but she cleared that hurdle with her mother’s support.

The Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court ordered her release after she signed an agreement to self-report to police on demand, adhere to a ban to visit Gaza for 60 days, and agree to a self-guarantee of NIS 5,000.

Police had sought harsher penalties in the form of a 184-day Gaza ban and paying down a deposit of NIS 5,000.

Regev’s lawyer, Hadeel Abu Saleh, argued that the arrest was unlawful, as Regev was detained at gunpoint in international waters on a Polish-registered boat. She argued that because the arrest had been carried out without proper authority, the court could not lawfully impose restrictions. She also claimed that Regev, who had gone on a hunger strike, had been abused in detention, particularly in regard to her hijab.

Initially, Regev was arrested for “infiltration” under the Prevention of Infiltration Law, which was later clarified at her court hearing as “attempted infiltration.” The police filing was considered flawed after inconsistencies were found between the stated reason for her detention and the description of where the offense occurred.

For this reason, Judge Talmor Peres criticized the filing. Nevertheless, she conceded that there was reasonable suspicion that Regev had committed the offenses she was charged with.

The judge ordered Regev’s release with the restrictions listed above, which were lighter than police recommendations.