Police release Palestinians held over alleged rape of 7-year-old girl

Two Palestinian men arrested Tuesday on suspicion of involvement in the rape of a 7-year-old Israeli girl in a central West Bank settlement earlier this year have been released, a police spokeswoman says.

The only condition for their release is that they appear at a nearby police station if summoned again, she says.

The two were the first arrests since police in June released a 46-year-old Palestinian man after holes emerged in the case against him. He had been held for nearly two months before public scrutiny of the evidentiary basis for the arrest forced the prosecution to backtrack on charges against him.

— Jacob Magid