Palestinian police were still searching yesterday for an Israeli Arab producer for the TV network CNN kidnapped at gunpoint on a busy Gaza City street, and the network joined journalists' associations in demanding his immediate release.
The motive of the Monday twilight kidnapping in Gaza was not clear. The morning after the abduction, the kidnappers had still made no public statement or demand, and all Palestinian militant factions denied involvement. Kidnapping of a journalist is almost unprecedented in Gaza.
The armed kidnappers targeted the producer, Riad Ali, by name. He was seized while riding in a van with two American CNN colleagues. The Americans and the Palestinian driver were not detained.
Israeli Arab journalist Rafik Halabi, who supervised Ali when he worked at Israel TV, said Ali has not been harmed.
"What I understand, what I know, is that Riad, my good friend and colleague, is alive and well," Halabi told Army Radio, refusing to elaborate. The military radio station said contact had been made with the kidnappers, but gave no further details.
Tensions in Gaza have been running high since the killing of a leader of the Hamas military wing in a car bombing in Damas-cus on Sunday. Israeli security sources have acknowledged Israeli involvement in the attack, and Hamas vowed revenge.
Palestinian gunmen in Gaza have seized several foreigners in four years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, but usually released them after a few hours, often under pressure from their leaders.
Witnesses said an old-model Peugeot 504 carrying gunmen stopped the CNN van outside a supermarket in Gaza City's Rimal neighborhood, close to the Ramattan Studios that provide services to foreign TV companies.
Three gunmen walked up to the van and asked for Ali by name, Wedeman said.
A souvenir shop owner who would give only his first name, Ahmed, saw the kidnapping from his store. He saw the CNN van, and then "suddenly a Peugeot car stopped in front of the van and two armed men got out," he said, taking someone from the car.
"There was no shooting and no violence," he said. "The men were armed with Kalashnikovs [assault rifles] and did not wear masks on their faces."
In the West Bank, troops overnight shot dead a Palestinian in the Jenin refugee camp, local hospital staff said.
Camp residents said the man, Baleh Bilalu, 46, had a history of mental illness and was wandering in the dark in a section of the camp under military curfew when soldiers shot him.
The army said the man was climbing a fence surrounding an army position and when he refused several calls to halt, the troops opened fire.
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