Kidnapped Journalists In New Video

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 and claimed they had converted to Islam.

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 Hilal told The Associated Press.

However, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas later said that the negotiations for the release of the hostages are still continuing.

Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, urged the kidnappers to wrap up negotiations and set the hostages free. "In the name of the Muslim values you uphold, I consider you responsible for Olaf's and Steve's continued well-being," she said Sunday.

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 efforts to win the journalists' release.

The kidnappers, meanwhile, released new video of Wiig and Centanni. In a written statement attached to the video, the kidnappers claimed the two men had converted to Islam.

In one segment of the footage, Wiig is seen sitting cross-legged on the floor, dressed in a beige robe and reading from crumpled notes, delivering an anti-Western speech. He also read out an Islamic blessing in Arabic, his fingers following the written text.

"The people of Gaza have suffered for many years in what is effectively a prison camp," he said in a halting voice, his face expressionless. "They have not been free to come and go. Some say this was all started because of 9/11, and of course that wasn't true.

"It is Apache helicopters firing hellfire missiles made in America that kill the residents of Gaza. America and George Bush are seen as being evil in some people's eyes in this part of the world," Wiig said. "It it's time that the leaders of the West listen to the people, take notice of the millions protesting in the streets, stop hiding behind the `I don't negotiate with terrorists' myth."

In another segment, Centanni said he has converted to Islam and raised his index finger in an oath of allegiance to the religion.

In the past, foreign hostages held in Iraq have said their captors coerced them into making statements.

The journalists were seized in Gaza City on Aug. 14. Their captors, a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades, demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the U.S. by midnight Saturday in exchange for freeing the journalists. The kidnappers did not say what it would do to the men if the deadline passed with their demands unanswered.

It was not clear whether the kidnappers were local militants, either with ties to Hamas or the rival Fatah movement, or sneaked into Gaza from outside. However, some Palestinian security officials said Sunday there were growing suspicions that the kidnappers were locals.

In the past two years, Palestinian militants have seized more than two dozen foreigners, usually to settle personal scores, but released them unharmed within hours. The holding of the Fox journalists was the longest so far.