British officials have confirmed that three Britons held hostage in Gaza since last Wednesday, have been released.
Kate Burton and her parents, Hugh and Helen, are reported to be in a hotel in Gaza City awaiting a meeting with Palestinian officials.
The circumstances of the release have not yet been confirmed and the kidnappers remain unidentified.
The Burtons had been abducted by armed gunmen in Rafah near the Palestinian border with Egypt on Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier this evening the Muslim Association of Britain announced it would send a representative to the region tomorrow morning if the three had not yet released.
Two Palestinian militant groups, the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and Hamas, earlier called for their release.
Roadblocks were set up around the enclave, and local police had said they would use force if necessary to secure the Burtons' freedom.
Separately, Israeli troops have raided the West Bank town of Jenin a day after a Palestinian suicide bomb attack at an army road block near Tulkarm which killed an Israeli soldier and two Palestinians.
Ten Palestinians were arrested in today's raid.
Rafah crossing reopens after blockade
Meanwhile, the border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has reopened after the Palestinian Authority negotiated an end to an armed blockade by policemen.
A spokesman for European Union security monitors at the crossing at Rafah said operations would resume after the standoff began earlier today. The monitors had temporarily withdrawn to Israel during the standoff.
The border was opened last month and is the only means that local Palestinians have of leaving the Gaza Strip.
It is thought that the withdrawal of Israeli forces last September resulted in a power struggle involving police, local gangs and factions.
Local witnesses have been quoted as saying that police were angered after a colleague was killed in a clash with a local clan on Thursday. The incident is said to have sparked today's blockade.
