A British journalist left the Gaza Strip on Thursday after nearly four weeks in a Hamas-run Palestinian jail facing accusations of spying for Israel.

Paul Martin, a London-based freelance film-maker and writer, said as he left the enclave for Israel: "My release today is a great victory for freedom of the media, freedom of the press, to be able to follow the difficult stories in war zones."

Hamas insisted on branding him a spy for Israel but said it had decided to deport rather than prosecute Martin, who is in his 50s and also holds South African citizenship.

Martin, whose lawyer said he had protested his innocence throughout since his detention on Feb. 14, called the allegation that he was anything but a bona fide journalist "ridiculous".

"I have gone through a lot in the last few days and weeks, but I think that if my release today is worth anything it is worth showing the world that journalists must do their stories irrespective of the risks involved," he said as he was escorted from Gaza in a British and South African diplomatic convoy.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official, told a news conference: "He is a spy for Israel."

Martin's alleged criminal activity, as described by Zahar, appeared to have much in common with research journalists have frequently undertaken in the territory -- investigations into whether Hamas was importing arms through tunnels from Egypt and whether its fighters put children in harm's way during last year's Israeli offensive, forcing them to act as human shields.

Human rights groups have criticised both Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority, which rules in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, for detaining journalists and placing other curbs on media freedoms.

Zahar, however, rejected that, telling journalists at the news conference that they were free to work as normal in Gaza.

Britain's vice consul in Jerusalem, Stephen Brown, said in Gaza: "We're obviously all relieved that Paul is out."

Martin was arrested when he came to Gaza last month to give evidence for the defence in the trial of a local man accused of working for Israeli intelligence.

He praised the support he had received from Britain and South Africa, and urged other governments to do as much to protect media freedoms and to release other journalists from detention.