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 issued a statement on behalf of Alan's parents, Graham and Margaret Johnston, and his sister Katriona:



"A short time ago, we received the news we’ve waited 114 days for – that Alan is free and is safe - and we are overjoyed. "The last 114 days have been a dreadful time for us – but particularly for Alan. Through it all, we never lost hope. Alan had always told us of the friends he’d made in Gaza. We knew, in the end, they would be there for him. "We’ve always known Alan was special. But the last 14 weeks have shown us how special he is to others - to his friends in Gaza, to his colleagues at the BBC, and to the listeners and viewers who’ve written in their thousands. Their support has buoyed us up through the darkest days. We’ve drawn our strength from them.

"We want to thank all those who’ve worked so hard to secure Alan’s release -- the people in Gaza, those in the wider Middle East region, as well as the Foreign Office and the BBC."

Hamas had demanded Johnston's freedom since it violently seized control of Gaza last month, in an apparent bid to gain favour with the West.

On Tuesday, Hamas gunmen took positions around the stronghold of the shadowy group holding Johnston, stepping up the pressure to secure his release. Johnston was kidnapped from a Gaza City street on March 12, spending far more time in captivity than any Western journalist abducted in Gaza. Hamas had said it knew where to find him, but has not raided the hideout for fear he would come to harm.

Members of Hamas' 6000-strong militia moved onto rooftops of high-rise buildings on Tuesday and deployed gunmen in streets in the Gaza City neighbourhood inhabited by the Doghmush clan. The large, heavily armed family leads the Army of Islam, a little known group that has been holding Johnston.

"The clocks have begun ticking toward the release of Alan Johnston,'' said Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad. "The operation of the interior ministry Executive Forces has started, and they are tightening the siege on the people involved in his kidnap.'' The Doghmush clan last night released nine students loyal to Hamas that they kidnapped earlier in the week. Hamas officials and mediators said the release was meant to pave the way for Johnston's release.

Then four of Army of Islam members were freed by Hamas, said Abu Mujahid from the Popular Resistance Committees, the militant group handling the negotiations. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Johnston's captors of smearing the Palestinian people's reputation and of seeking "to prove to the world that we are a group of militias that fight each other to gain personal ends.''

The Army of Islam, whose formerly close relations with Hamas have soured, had demanded that Britain first release a radical Islamic cleric with ties to al-Qaeda. It also had threatened to kill Johnston if Hamas tried to free him by force. On Monday, Hamas arrested the spokesman of the Army of Islam, giving it a potentially valuable bargaining chip in its efforts to release Johnston.

Last week, the Army of Islam posted a video message from Johnston on a militant web site in which he appeared to be wearing an explosives belt that he said his captors would detonate if there were an attempt to free him.

The same group was involved in the capture of Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was seized more than a year ago in a raid on an Israeli army post near Gaza. Agencies