British hostages freed in Gaza - officials

Fri Dec 30, 4:51 PM ET

GAZA (Reuters) - A 25-year-old British human rights worker and her parents were freed in the Gaza Strip on Friday by the Palestinian gunmen who kidnapped them two days earlier, British and Palestinian officials said.

Kate Burton and her visiting parents Hugh and Helen were kidnapped on Wednesday in the chaotic southern town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

"They are secure and in good hands," said a senior Palestinian security official.

A British official said he had been informed of their release and was waiting for them at a meeting point in Gaza City.

Witnesses said around seven kidnappers, armed with automatic rifles, pulled over a car used by Burton and her parents. The Britons were bundled into a white vehicle that sped away.

Nothing was heard from the kidnappers for two days and that had stirred fears for their safety given that other foreigners taken hostage in Gaza have usually been released within hours.

Kidnappers from unruly armed factions and gangs have in the past demanded jobs or the release of prisoners as ransom and generally make contact with the authorities to immediately begin negotiations.

There was no immediate word on who had kidnapped the Burtons, what the demands for their release had been or whether those had been met.

Gaza has seen a rash of kidnappings since Israel quit the coastal territory in September after 38 years of occupation, a move welcomed internationally as a potential spur to peace but which left the Palestinian Authority struggling for control.

The kidnapping of the three Britons, and the international attention that it drew, came as a fresh embarrassment for President Mahmoud Abbas.

A Dutchman and an Australian, teachers at a Gaza school, were briefly abducted last week by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine which demanded that its leaders be released from jail.

As Burton worked for Al Mazen, a group that documents alleged Israeli abuses of Palestinian rights, her abduction sparked popular protests in Gaza.

The Burton family released a statement in London that "Kate is a warm and loving person, and has been working as a volunteer in Gaza for the past year, trying to do what she can to help the situation there."

(Additional reporting by Michael Holden in London)

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