An Italian peace activist who was abducted by gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis today has been freed, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said.
The Italian, who has not been named, was being driven back to Gaza City after his ordeal, the security sources said.
The activist had been part of a group of around 20 Italians on a mission designed to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The security sources said that the kidnappers and their victim had been traced to a house in Mowassi, an enclave just outside Khan Yunis which lies in the middle of the former Gush Katif bloc of Jewish settlements which were evacuated in August.
Witnesses said the security forces fired into the air during the rescue but the kidnappers did not return fire and appeared to have run away.
The kidnapping came barely a day after a British human rights activist and her parents were released after being abducted in the town of Rafah on the border with Egypt.
Kate Burton and her parents Hugh and Helen were freed more than 48 hours after they were seized by gunmen in a move which was greeted with anger by the Palestinian leadership which is attempting to attract aid workers to Gaza.
Meanwhile, the main armed Palestinian factions formally called off their year-long truce today, launching a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees all confirmed that they felt no longer bound by the truce first brokered by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in January last year and which was formalised at intra-Palestinian talks in Cairo last March.
Three of the groups claimed to have fired rockets into Israel while Hamas warned that it would resume its attacks at a time and date of its choosing.
