GAZA – Two journalists kidnapped in the Gaza Strip Friday were released following negotiations between PA officials and the captors. A former PA security official, whose abduction prompted the kidnapping of the journalists, was also expected to be freed.
Armed Palestinians abducted the two journalists, an Australian and a Palestinian, Friday afternoon. The Australian woman, who works for the Australian news agency, and the Palestinian man, who resides in east Jerusalem, were kidnapped in order to serve as “bargaining chips.”
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Earlier, Palestinian sources reported the two were placed in a car by several armed gunmen and their traces were lost. PA security officials estimated the abduction was carried out by a group of armed men closely associated with a former senior PA security officer, Jihad Abad, who was kidnapped Thursday with his wife and children.
The two abducted journalists are well, one of the kidnappers, Abu Murad, told Ynet earlier. However, he warned, “Our young guys are threatening to hurt them” should the Palestinian officer abducted earlier not be released within two hours.
In the past, Abad served as a senior intelligence officer and held a high-ranking post in the office of former Palestinian Military Intelligence Chief Musa Arafat.
Hoping for a ‘prisoner swap’
Abad was abducted and apparently taken to a hiding place in the central Gaza Strip. A group calling itself “Jenin’s Martyrs” claimed responsibility for the abduction. The group is believed to belong to the Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
However, the group did not provide a reason for abducting the officer. Several hours later, Abad’s wife and children were released, but he is still being held by his captors.
Abad’s associates apparently decided to fight back, prompting the abduction of the two journalists in a bid to negotiate with Abad’s abductors and arrange a “prisoner swap.”
Recently, several foreigners working for an international company were abducted by relatives of Palestinians detained by security forces after attempting to enter a Gaza prison and execute a suspect who killed their family member.
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