VIDEO - Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist held hostage in the Gaza Strip since March, was handed over by his Islamist captors to ruling Hamas officials on Wednesday, Palestinian sources close to negotiations for his release said. The sources told Reuters they saw the 45-year-old Briton being taken into the care of officials from the Hamas movement, which seized full control of Gaza three weeks ago. “He is sitting with his colleagues from the BBC office in Gaza,” one of the witnesses said. “He is talking to them and he looks fine and well.” Johnston later arrived at the British Consulate in east Jerusalem, where he was expected to be questioned by MI6 agents about his kidnapping before holding a press conference. “It is just the most fantastic thing to be free,” he told the BBC live by telephone from the home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. “(But it had been) at times quite terrifying.” “I dreamt many times of being free and always woke up back in that room. Now it really is over,” said the 45-year-old Scot, adding he had followed events by radio and thanked the public and colleagues for their support throughout his 114-day ordeal. Johnston, smiling and looking well, was embraced by BBC colleagues after arriving by car at the home of Hamas’s local leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh. He was ushered inside amid a scrum of well-wishers and guards with Kalashnikov rifles. Johnston said he had followed events on a radio during most of his time as a hostage and thanked people round the world, as well as his colleagues at the British public broadcaster, for their support and efforts to help secure his release.He said he had spoken briefly to his family in Scotland. The BBC, Britain’s public broadcaster, said it was “extremely relieved”. One of those who helped negotiate his release from the Army of Islam group said a leading Muslim cleric had been brought in by mediators to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, calling for Johnston’s release. Moment of release (Photo: AFP) No ransom was attached to the deal, said Abu Mujahed of the Popular Resistance Committees militant group. One source involved in the effort to free Johnston said the journalist may join Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh for a news conference before being taken to British diplomats for a journey home that would involve him leaving the Gaza Strip for Israel. 'Hamas efforts produced Johnston's freedom' Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said on Wednesday the freeing of Johnston showed his Islamist movement had brought order to the Gaza Strip by seizing power in the territory last month. "We have been able to close this chapter which has harmed the image of our people greatly. The efforts by Hamas have produced the freedom of Alan Johnston,” Mashaal told Reuters by telephone from Syria. "We had expressed our regret in the name of the Palestinian people at the abduction of the respected journalist Alan Johnston, which represented an offence to our people. "Today we celebrate with Johnston’s family, the BBC and our people the freedom of Alan Johnston,” Mashaal said. Johnston, the only Western correspondent working full-time in the troubled coastal enclave, went missing on March 12 when his car was found abandoned. His captors later declared themselves to be the Army of Islam, an al-Qaeda-inspired group with links to one of Gaza’s powerful clans. They issued Web videos showing Johnston and seeking the release of Islamists held prisoner by Britain and other states. Most recently, after Hamas officials threatened to free him by force from the clan’s stronghold, Johnston was shown wearing a suicide belt with the warning he would die if that happened. Hamas, apparently eager to show its ability to impose order in Gaza after many months of factional fighting, had increased pressure on the hostage-takers to relent and had surrounded their neighborhood late on Tuesday. The Army of Islam and Hamas exchanged prisoners in recent days during negotiations to free Johnston. Ali Waked and Aviram Zino contributed to the report