Israel extends charity worker’s detention

An Israeli court yesterday extended the detention of a Palestinian employee of Turkish aid agency TIKA, who was arrested last month as he was attempting to cross the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The decision came following the demand of a prosecutor who asked the court to keep Mohamed Mortaja in custody for 11 more days.

Mortaja, who has worked for TIKA in the Gaza Strip since 2012, had reportedly been on his way to a training course in the Turkish capital Ankara when he was detained on 12 February.

He is accused of having links to Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, communicating with foreign intelligence agencies, and plotting against Israel’s national security, according to his lawyer, Khaled Zayarqa.

Zayarqa told the Anadolu Agency last week that his client had been brought before an Israeli judge who had ordered that he not be allowed to speak with his lawyers until 28 February.

Thursday’s hearing also extended the ban on him to speak to his lawyers until Sunday.

The next hearing is scheduled for Monday.

The Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv was closely as a result, Turkish sources said last week.

The sources, who spoke anonymously due to restrictions on talking to media, said the charges against Mortaja were not related to his work with TIKA.