Thursday, November 07, 2002 Kislev 2, 5763 Israel Time: 22:43 (GMT+2)

Last update - 21:23 07/11/2002

By Ha'aretz Service and Agencies

Four masked Palestinians abducted a German representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross from the Gaza town of Khan Yunis on Thursday afternoon.

Nicolai Panke was abducted at gunpoint while he was handing out food to Palestinians whose homes had been destroyed during fighting. The kidnapping was witnessed by several bystanders.

The Red Cross spokesman in Israel, Uriel Massad, confirmed that Panke had been abducted, and that the kidnappers had contacted the organization.

Panke is "safe and well" and Red Cross officials were in contact with the Palestinian Authority in an attempt to arrange his release, said ICRC spokeswoman Alexandra Matijevic.

Panke "is responsible for our activities in those areas and was assisting people who had their houses demolished. He was kidnapped by four armed young men," Matijevic said.

Matijevic declined to say if the abductors belonged to one of the Palestinian militant groups, or whether they were making demands in exchange for Panke's release.

"We are in contact with the Palestinian Authority and we are not negotiating directly with the abductors," she added.

Palestinian security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the gunmen were former police officers who had been fired from their duties in the Palestinian security services.

About two months ago the same group abducted three Italians who were in Gaza to express solidarity with the Palestinians, the security officials said. The Italians were released unharmed.

The security officials called the kidnapping a criminal act, and said they were negotiating to obtain Panke's release. They said the gunmen were demanding to get their jobs back.

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2002