Word: johnstons
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...Correspondent Alan Johnston was released on Wednesday after 114 days in captivity because the Hamas authorities in Gaza made his kidnappers an offer they couldn't refuse: either they freed the Briton or they would be hunted down and killed, a senior Hamas militant told TIME. To Johnston's captors, the Army of Islam, an offshoot of a powerful criminal clan in Gaza known as the Dogmush, there was no doubting Hamas' resolve. In the 48 hours prior to the journalist's release, Hamas gunmen took up positions on rooftops around the Dogmush compound in Gaza City, cut off water...
...Earlier, Hamas officials said they could have raided the Dogmush compound and freed the captive journalist in "15 minutes," but that they were afraid that Johnston might have been harmed. (Johnston was moved to four different hideouts during his kidnapping but always kept in a windowless room.) Soon after these remarks were made public, a video of Johnston was released of him wearing an explosive belt and saying his captors would blow him up if Hamas tried to rescue him. Questioned about the video after his release, Johnston said: "If Hamas had stormed the hideout, there...
...Johnston says the only time he was mistreated was shortly before his release, when his captors apparently could not contain their angry frustration over Hamas' terms. He described how they "smashed me in the face" before they shoved him in the vehicle that delivered him to freedom before dawn on Wednesday. As Johnston later remarked, "If it wasn't for Hamas' pressure, I'd be in that room a lot longer." His surly captors drove Johnston to Haniyeh's modest residence. Fed only on cheese, potatoes and bread during his months of solitary confinement, Johnston was obviously grateful...
...senior Hamas militant told TIME that under the terms of Johnston's handover, the Army of Islam would be allowed to keep its weapons "for resistance against Israel" but vowed that the group would "no longer kidnap journalists and would obey the Hamas government...
...Dagmush fear for their lives. Gaza sources close to the clan say its members are afraid that once they release Johnston, they may be killed by Hamas, and holding him could be their only insurance policy...