Kidnapped Gaza aid workers freed

22/11/2006| IslamWeb

Two Italians working for the International Committee of the Red Cross have been freed after eight hours in captivity.

The aid organisation had briefly suspended its field operations in the territory after the kidnappings.

They were reportedly kidnapped by Palestinians who were demanding an investigation in Yasser Arafat's death two years ago.

Claudio Moroni and Gianmarco Onorato from the Italian Red Cross were stopped by armed men as in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis.

"They were taken out of their vehicle and put into another car which then sped away," a police officer said.

Their kidnappers, members of the Fatah movement, released the aid workers after being persuaded that their action would harm the Palestinian cause, a source involved the hostages' release said.

Abductions

The two aid workers were the latest of several foreigners to be abducted in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian armed groups usually carry out the kidnappings to demand money or wring concessions from the government.

Most foreigners kidnapped in Gaza this year have been freed unharmed within hours.

However, two journalists working for US-based Fox News who were abducted in August were held for two weeks before being released.

Fatah member shot

In a separate incident, Abdel Aziz Shahin, a former Palestinian cabinet minister from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, was shot and wounded, sources from the group said.

An outspoken critic of the ruling Hamas government, Shahin was shot in the thigh as he left the office of a pro-Fatah radio station in Gaza City.

There have been no immediate claims of responsibility.

Gaza had been the scene of increasing violent conflict between rival Palestinian groups in recent months.

PHOTO CAPTION

Gianmarco Onorato (R) and Claudio Moroni of the International Committee of the Red Cross are seen after they were released in Gaza November 22, 2006. (Reuters)