Cuba's 1,500-member Jewish community is celebrating the release of the American aid worker Alan Gross on December 17 and has welcomed the potential thaw in US-Cuba relations that his exit from jail appears to have kick-started.

Mr Gross, 65, had been in a Cuban jail since being arrested in 2009 and imprisoned for 15 years for committing “acts against the integrity of the state”.

A sub-contractor for the US Agency for International Development, he was convicted of importing banned technology — including cell phones and satellite communication equipment — and trying to establish a clandestine internet service for Cuban Jews.

Adela Dworin, the president of the Cuban Jewish community, said it was fitting that the release of Mr Gross — and the reciprocal US decision to free three Cubans jailed in the since 1998 on spying charges — took place on the first day of Chanucah. “Let’s hope the families of Gross and the three Cubans can have a happy New Year and that 2015 or 5775 will be a year of peace and understanding between our two countries.”

For his part, the vice-president of the community, David Prinstein, declared: “This came as a real surprise to us, but we are delighted. I believe it marks the beginning of an improvement in relations between the two governments.”

Just hours after Cuba’s Communist leaders agreed to the release, the administration of President Barack Obama announced a major shift in US relations with the island, unveiling plans to restore full diplomacy and establish an embassy in Havana.

After flying home from Havana on a US government plane last week, Mr Gross thanked all those who had worked tirelessly for his release: “Today is the first day of Chanucah, and so far it’s the best Chanucah that I’ll be celebrating for a long time.”

It has emerged that, although Pope Francis played a major role in the negotiations for Mr Gross’s release, his predecessor, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, raised the issue with President Raúl Castro as far back as March 2012.