Malaysian activist Dr Fauziah Mohd Hassan was happy and cheerful when she arrived at the KL International Airport in Sepang tonight, after her release by the Israeli regime.

She flew from Tel Aviv to Bangkok, where she was greeted by her husband, Prof Mohd Alauddin Mohd Ali, who had arrived from Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysian Embassy officials in Thailand.

"Dr Fauziah is happy. However, she is not allowed to leave the airport transit area, pending a flight to Kuala Lumpur," an embassy official told Bernama after her arrival in Bangkok in the afternoon.

She arrived in Bangkok at 2pm (3pm Malaysian time) via Thai Airways Flight TG4594 from Tel Aviv and proceeded to Malaysia via Flight TG417 at 4pm (5pm Malaysian time).

On Wednesday, 10 women activists, including Dr Fauziah and three crew members who were on board the Zaytouna-Oliva ship on a humanitarian mission, dubbed Women's Boat to Gaza (WBG), were detained at 2.58pm local time (9.58pm Malaysian time) at Ashdod Port, Israel.

Upon arrival at the Ashdod Port, Dr Fauziah was held in Givon prison in Ramla (central Israel) before being transferred to a temporary detention centre at the Ben-Gurion International Airport.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said he is impressed by the courage of humanitarian activist Fauziah, for she was willing to risk her life to help Palestinians in Gaza.

Najib also expressed his gratitute that Fauziah had safely returned home tonight after being released by the Israeli military which had detained the 'Women's Boat to Gaza' (WBG) group on Wednesday.

"I am impressed by the courage of Dr Fauziah Hassan, in facing danger to help those in Gaza. Alhamdulillah, she has now returned to M'sia. May she be blessed," he tweeted in his Twitter account @NajibRazak today.

- Bernama