Keeper releasing ball to player standing next to her

Saw a strategy that I've never encountered at a tournament this weekend and looking for thoughts on how to interpret the IDF misconduct in law 12.2:

• prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from the hands or kicks or attempts to kick the ball when the goalkeeper is in the process of releasing it

U12 girls, after collecting a kick from the attacking team with her hands, keeper was dropping the ball to her defender standing next to her who was then kicking the ball downfield.

Other team caught on and wanted to stand near the keeper and defender. Center told attacker to give them room. After the match, we discussed it, but couldn't come to a consensus.

My view is attacker couldn't stand in front of the keeper (because she should have the option of drop kicking it) and couldn't stand next to the keeper (because she should have the option of releasing it to that side). They were standing shoulder to shoulder, so the later wasn't really an option unless the attacker wanted to force herself in there. But my view was the attacker could stand in front of the defender, so center was wrong to tell her to blanketly give them space. Of course, we're arguing about a matter of 1-2 feet.

Thoughts on where attacker can stand?

Assuming the attacker could stand close enough to kick the ball after it was released, when would the attacker be able to touch the ball legally?

If we're going to punish attackers for jumping into the path of a punt as "in the process of releasing it," where do we draw the line for "in the process of releasing" vs "have released" the ball in this scenario?