A senior aide to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Hainyeh of Hamas, met several times with kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston in Gaza, a pro-Hamas daily reported Monday.

Ghazi Hamad is currently on a low-profile visit to London to discuss the issue of Johnston, whose captors demand the release of a key Al-Qaida figure, Abu Qutada, in exchange for his freedom.

According to the Palestinian daily, the British government invited Hamad to visit the U.K. to discuss the demands made by the Army of Islam, which has claimed responsibility from snatching Johnston, 44, at gunpoint in Gaza City on March 12.

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The Army of Islam is the same group which has claimed responsibility the abduction, along with Hamas and a third group, of Israel Defense Forces Corporal Gilad Shalit almost one year ago.

Shalit is still being held at an unknown location in Gaza and Egyptian-led indirect negotiations on a prisoners swap are currently deadlocked.

Johnston was the only and last Western reporter to stay full time in the volatile Gaza Strip.

Speaking in Wales two days ago, Hamad, in the first official remarks on Johnston's condition, said the BBC correspondent was alive and well. He also said he hoped Johnston may be released "soon."