The Palestinian deputy prime minister has been freed from an Israeli jail on the orders of an Israeli military court.

Nasser Shaer, who was arrested on August 19, was the most senior Hamas official arrested in an Israeli crackdown against the Palestinian group in retaliation for the kidnap of a soldier in late June.

"The court admitted there was not enough evidence to keep him in jail. He will be home in Nablus (in the West Bank) in a matter of hours," he lawyer, Osama al-Saadi, said.

Although Mr Shaer was heading back to his home in the West Bank city of Nablus, the court temporarily banned him from going to his government office in Ramallah.

Israeli authorities detained dozens of Hamas MPs and a number of Cabinet ministers after Hamas militants abducted Corporal Gilad Schalit in a cross-border raid from Gaza.

Mr Shaer's release will raise the hopes of the 31 Hamas MPs who remain in custody. On Monday, an Israeli military court in the occupied West Bank reversed a decision to release 21 of them on bail, ordering the men held in detention until the end of judicial proceedings against them.

The military prosecution has charged the 21 Hamas members with belonging to a "terrorist group" and posing a security threat against Israel. Hamas, which came to power in a Palestinian election in January, advocates Israel’s destruction.

There had been widespread speculation the legislators could be freed as part of a future deal for the release of the abducted Israeli soldier.

Meanwhile a 14-year-old Palestinian girl was killed today in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza strip, said to be targeted at the home of an arms dealer in the border town of Rafah.

Meanwhile, an Israeli human rights group said that Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip’s sole power plant on June 28 as part of efforts to recover Corporal Schalit was a war crime and collective punishment, banned under international law.

"The bombing of the power plant was illegal and defined as a war crime in international humanitarian law, as the attack was aimed at a purely civilian object," according to a statement from B’Tselem, Israel’s main rights group monitoring the Palestinian territories.

B’Tselem demanded that "the government of Israel order a criminal investigation into the bombing, with the intention of prosecuting the persons responsible for ordering and carrying out the attack," it said.

Israel bombed the Gaza power plant on June 28, as it launched a massive military offensive in the impoverished coastal strip three days after militants seized a soldier and killed two others in a cross-border raid.

The bombing has had a devastating effect on life in the densely populated territory, with electricity being rationed to a few hours a day during the hot summer months. The offensive has also cut water supplies to a few hours a day and brought sewage treatment to a halt.

Times Recommends

• Fish and chip shops ‘selling cobbler as cod’
• T in the Park festival at Kinross
• How to get Madonna’s Thighs