Updated
From Fox News:
JERUSALEM — Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that he hoped the case of two kidnapped FOX News journalists would be resolved “in the coming hours.”
The journalists, correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of Washington, D.C., and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, were seized in Gaza City on Aug. 14. Their captors demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the U.S. in exchange for freeing the FOX journalists.
The kidnappers said they were members of a previously unknown group called the Holy Jihad Brigades. It was not clear whether they were local militants, either with ties to Hamas or the rival Fatah movement, or whether they sneaked into Gaza from outside.
“We hope that this issue is going to be over in the coming hours,” Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said in a statement.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said authorities were exerting efforts to release the journalists, but were not negotiating with the kidnappers.
Allah at Hot Air has more.
Update: The Jerusalem Post reports that Centanni and Wiig will be released unconditionally and unharmed:
The kidnappers of the two Fox News journalists abducted in Gaza City on August 14 have promised to release them unharmed, Palestinian Authority officials said on Saturday night.
According to the officials, the PA has managed to establish contact with the kidnappers, who promised to resolve the affair peacefully.
PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he had personally received assurances from the kidnappers that the two, reporter Steve Centanni, from the US, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, from New Zealand, would be released unharmed and unconditionally.
PA Interior Minister Said Siam, who is in charge of part of the PA security forces, announced that significant progress had been achieved in efforts to secure the release of the men.
“There are encouraging indications that the two will be released soon,” he said, refusing to elaborate.
Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled PA government, also said that he was “very encouraged” that the two would be released soon. “I believe they will be released soon because of a breakthrough in the negotiations with the kidnappers,” he said.
More than likely the Holy Jihad Brigades are Hamas. They kidnap two journalists, the Hamas government secures their release – Hamas gains much needed legitimacy.
So they should stop talking about it and do it. What’s the point of just announcing their release? (Except to gain more media coverage, of course.)
It’s great news, though.
Hmmm.
Off-Topic:
Goodbye all. Every comment of mine has been removed from this blog so that’s a hint anybody can take.
*shrug* I guess I’ll just do my own blog rather than contributing to this one.
Cya.
My bet was on Fatah, but whoever it was, they were connected. The men were abducted a couple doors down from the PA Security station. This crime was officially sanctioned by someone, without doubt. We pray the journalists are released unharmed – but do we let bank robbers go free if they return the money?
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Ed ~ you should know that Wizbang! was moved to a new server over the last 24 hours, and that most comments after around 11 p.m. EST Friday night were in limbo between the two servers. Kevin is trying to manually transfer those, but many haven’t made it over.
Nothing personal to yours – several of mine disappeared, too, as well as comments I know were posted on threads over at Politics because I get an email alert when comments are posted on stories I put up. There was a notice put up, but it probably got buried by new posts between then and the transfer.
Sorry for the inconvenience to all, but you will soon learn to love the new server . . .