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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel on Thursday afternoon released two infants who were detained by authorities after accompanying their mother on a visit to see their father in an Israeli jail.

Executive director of the Palestinian Prisoner's Society Abdullah al-Zghari said that the two children -- nine-month-old Balqis Ghawadra and two-year-old Baraa Ghawadra -- had been delivered to the organization from the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem after Israeli authorities dropped them off there.

Al-Zghari added that the children had been detained, along with their mother, who is still in Israeli custody, in a social affairs office in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba since Wednesday.

Al-Zghari identified the mother of the children as Nihal Ghawadra from Bir al-Basha near Jenin. Her husband is Muammar Ghawadra, a prisoner who was released during the Shalit swap deal with Hamas in 2011 after he spent eight years in Israeli custody, but was rearrested by Israeli authorities in June 2014 in violation of the agreement.

Israeli authorities reportedly told the Palestinian Prisoner's Society that Nihal Ghawadra was detained because she had attempted to smuggle a cell phone to her jailed husband.

More than 5,500 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli jails.