Freed Fox News journalists leave Gaza to Jerusalem

The two journalists, American news reporter Steve Centanni and New Zealander cameraman Olaf Wiig, who work for Fox News, left Gaza Strip on Sunday heading to Jerusalem after being freed earlier.

Centanni and Wiig had been freed on Sunday afternoon by their kidnappers after being held for two weeks as hostages by an anonymous militant group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades in Gaza City.

Eyewitnesses said that the two journalists were dropped from an anonymous car that stopped in front of the Beach Hotel entrance on Gaza City beachside and the car had disappeared immediately.

Centanni and Wiig had immediately run into the hotel's yard and informed the receptionists that they were the abducted journalists and they had just been freed by their kidnappers, said one of the hotel's receptionists.

Contacts had then been made with the police and with Wiig's wife who hadn't left Gaza since the two had been abducted. Anita Wiig and dozens of police officers as well as the Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya and other security officials arrived at the hotel to receive them.

Interior Minister in the Hamas-led government Said Siam announced that the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC) had helped in the mediation to free the two abducted journalists.

Said Siam told a news conference after their release that "the abduction of the two journalists had badly damaged the Palestinian people's reputation, adding that "we hope that such incidents won' t happen in the future."

Right after their release, Wiig told reporters that he was happy to be freed and to see his wife, adding that he was so worried about the future of the Palestinians after the kidnapping.

"We are concerned that no more foreign journalists would come to the Gaza Strip to cover the Palestinian cause and their suffering,"said Wiig, saying that "your story won't reach to the world if more journalists are abducted."

Source: Xinhua