Free Republic

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two FOX News journalists were released by their kidnappers Sunday, nearly two weeks after they were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. Steve Centanni, 60, and Olaf Wiig, 36, left Gaza and have since crossed into Israel after their release. The men left Gaza through the Erez border crossing. The freeing of Centanni, a correspondent, and Wiig, a cameraman, ends the longest-running drama involving foreign hostages in Gaza. The two journalists were dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials and appeared to be in good health. A tearful Centanni embraced a...

Two Fox News journalists freed by militants Sunday described a harrowing two weeks of captivity during which they were blindfolded, tied in painful positions and forced at gunpoint to say on a video that they converted to Islam. After their release, the men met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and left Gaza, but first appealed at a brief news conference for foreign journalists not to be deterred from covering the plight of the Palestinians in the volatile coastal strip. "I hope that this never scares a single journalist away from coming to Gaza to cover the story because the...

Kidnapped Fox reporters "convert to Islam" on video Sun Aug 27, 2006 5:20 AM EDT By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Two kidnapped journalists for the American Fox News Channel appeared on a new videotape released by their captors on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, saying they had converted to Islam. Palestinian Interior Minister Saeed Seyam said efforts were under way to secure the release of Fox correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, within hours. Both journalists appeared to be in good health in the new video. They were seized on August 14...