GAZA, March 19 (UPI) -- The BBC expressed frustration Monday that one of its correspondents kidnapped in Gaza has been missing a week and there is no news of his condition.
Alan Johnston, 44, was abducted at gunpoint by masked men last Monday. No ransom demand has been made and no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping despite public pleas by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
BBC Middle East Bureau Chief Simon Wilson said he found the silence frustrating.
"Over the past week we have worked intensively with the authorities here in Gaza and elsewhere to try to locate Alan and we continue to receive assurances that everything possible is being done." Wilson said. "So at this stage we call on everyone with influence on this situation and we say to them it is time to redouble our efforts ... now that Alan has been missing for more than one week."
Johnston is the only foreign journalist from a major media organization based in Gaza, the BBC said.
