Two aid workers kidnapped in Gaza
Two foreign aid workers, one British and one Austrian, have been kidnapped from the streets of a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, officials said today.
The two men were snatched on Monday from their car by masked gunmen in the Al Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. They had been working on a water development project in Gaza.
“A British national is missing, but we cannot confirm his name,” said Jumana Jaouni, spokeswoman at the British Consulate in Jerusalem. British officials were working to find the man, she said.
Austrian officials also confirmed the kidnapping of one of their citizens and said that Austrian diplomats were headed to Gaza to deal with the incident.
Palestinian police were negotiating with the kidnappers, apparently part of a local gang using the hostages as bargaining chips to try to get some of its members released from prison, according to an Austrian official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of damaging the talks.
Palestinian interior minister Nasser Yousef ordered all the security branches to investigate the incident, according to interior ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa.
Previous kidnappings of foreigners in Gaza are usually carried out by local armed gangs for use as collateral. Palestinian militants have insisted their fight is against Israel and have shied from attacks that could internationalise the conflict.
