Authorities in Jordan have reportedly released a female suicide bomber in a prisoner swap with the Islamic State militant group.
But it's still unclear who the IS will free in return, a Japanese hostage or a captured Jordanian pilot.
Syria's pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV says the woman, Sajida al-Rishawi, has entered Syrian territory and the IS will exchange the Japanese hostage with her in Syria's northern province of al-Raqqa.
But earlier in the day, Jordan's information minister said Jordan would exchange the suicide bomber for Jordanian pilot Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh without mentioning the Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.
The pilot's father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, criticized efforts by the Jordanian government to secure his son's release.
"The government needs to work seriously, and find ways to contact the Islamic State, the way one would do to free his son, like the Japanese government does."
A swap would run counter to Jordan's hard-line approach towards Islamist militants and towards the position of its main ally, the United States.
London-based analyst Fawaz Gerges says the situation is a "lose, lose" one.
"This is a very serious situation because if the Jordanian government surrenders and basically releases Sajida, the prisoner who was sentenced to death, the Jordanian government comes across as what? As weak, as fragile? And if it does not, also loses domestic support and this could really unleash major social and political problems inside Jordan. So it's lose, lose."
The IS had threatened to kill the two hostages within 24 hours - late Wednesday night Japan time - unless al-Rishawi was freed.
The deadline has now passed.
