GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, SPA -- Two Fox News journalists seized in Gaza two weeks ago are expected to be freed later Sunday, a senior Palestinian official said, as the kidnappers released new footage of the hostages. The government has received assurances that the hostages, cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand and correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of the U.S., are unharmed, said Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal. «We hope their release will be within hours,» Abu Hilaltold The Associated Press. However, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ofHamas later said that the negotiations for the release ofthe hostages are still continuing. A New Zealand diplomat said he was encouraged by the Palestinian government's statements. «We are heartened to see the men are well looked after,and we think it's an appropriate time to let them go,»said the diplomat, Peter Rider, who is overseeing effortsto win the journalists' release. The kidnappers, meanwhile, released new video of Wiig and Centanni. --SPA www.spa.gov.sa/385264
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