2 Italian aid workers kidnapped in Gaza

[oberliner]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Two Italian aid workers were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, the latest in a string of abductions of foreigners in the lawless area.


The officials said the Italian, both employees of the Red Cross, were captured in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_kidnapping

[Boston Critic]

1. Supporters of Palestinian terrorists....

...still trying to figure out a way to blame Israel for this.

[Eugene]

2. 2 Abducted Red Cross Workers Released (AP)

2 Abducted Red Cross Workers Released


Tuesday November 21, 2006 11:16 PM

AP Photo PRCS102

By SARAH EL DEEB

Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Two Italian Red Cross workers kidnapped
Tuesday afternoon were released shortly after midnight, Palestinian security
officials said.

Just before their release, the Red Cross said it was suspending its activities
in the Gaza Strip, fearing for the safety of its workers.

The abductions - the latest in a series of kidnappings of foreigners in the
chaotic territory in recent months - dealt a serious blow to aid efforts
in the impoverished zone.

Iyad Nasr, a spokesman for the Red Cross's Gaza office, said the organization
had ceased all field operations and would intervene only "in matters of life
and death." Workers have been ordered to stay in their offices because of
fears for their safety, he said.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6231108,00.html

[Behind the Aegis]

3. "catch and release" program

Gaza: Politician shot, aid workers abducted, then released

Italian aid workers kidnapped by gunmen in southern Gaza, then released; in response Red Cross suspends operations in Strip. several hours later, gunmen shoot and injure former Fatah cabinet minister

Reuters Latest Update: 11.22.06, 00:29

Two Italians working for the Red Cross were freed in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday about eight hours after they were abducted by gunmen, a Palestinian security source said.

Palestinian security agents secured the release of the two after establishing contact with the kidnappers who had taken them from a street near the Gaza town of Khan Younis, the source said.

Gunmen abducted two Italians working for the International Committee of the Red Cross in southern Gaza on Tuesday, the latest in a spate of kidnappings of foreigners in the Palestinian coastal strip.

The Red Cross later announced it had suspended its field operations in Gaza as a result of the kidnappings.

more...