Britons freed by hostage-takers

Ms Burton and her parents Hugh and Helen were taken to Gaza City where they were joined by a British diplomatic team led by the Deputy Consul General Piers Cazalet and escorted out of Gaza, apparently on their way to Jerusalem.

After initial reports from Palestinian sources that their release was imminent there was a long delay while the gunmen who seized the family issued a video threatening international monitors of the forthcoming Palestinian elections

But though intensely relieved at the release of Ms Burton, Western diplomats made no secret of their alarm at the tone of a video made by one of the masked men holding her. It not only denounced the long history of British involvement in the Middle East but also contained an ominous threat that EU and other international monitors preparing to oversee Palestinian elections on 25 January faced possible kidnap.

The video, the release of which delayed the handover of Ms Burton and her parents, was apparently scheduled for broadcast on the Arabic satellite station Al Jazeera. A masked gunman was shown in the presence of Ms Burton, who works for a Al-Mezan, a Palestinian human rights agency based in Gaza. He denounced Britain's record in the region and warned that unless Western powers restrained Israel from what it saw as illegitimate activities ­ including the newly declared "buffer zone" in northern Gaza ­ others would be kidnapped.

British diplomats said there had been no negotiations with the kidnappers, who call themselves the Brigades of the Mujahideen-Jerusalem. The host-ages were abducted near the Palestinian border with Egypt on Wednesday afternoon. Ms Burton was showing her parents around the town of Rafah when they were abducted.

The kidnap drama began on what was supposed to have been the last day of Hugh and Helen Burton's visit to the Palestinian territories. Ms Burton had arranged a farewell tour. The morning was fine and warm when they left the beachside al-Deira hotel at 8.30 with Khalil Ahmed Khulab, a driver with long experience of looking after foreigners.

They visited some of the main sights of Gaza City, one of the oldest settlements in the world, the Al Samra baths, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Basha palace, and the Omari mosque. That is where they met their guide, Mazen Mansour, at 10am. "It was a good visit," Mr Mansour, 34, said. "They saw everything. They were very happy."

It was when Mr Khulabwas swinging his yellow six-seat Mercedes taxi on to the airport road on the last leg of the Gaza tour with his three passengers when the carefully planned itinerary was interrupted. Ms Burton, was on the back seat; her parents were in the middle. Next to Mr Khulab sat Mr Mansour.

"A white Mazda came straight towards us, face to face." Mr Khulab said. "If it had come any closer it would have hit us head on." Two masked men, armed with AK47s, jumped out of the Mazda, which had no registration plates, leaving behind the driver, also masked.

"One of the men showed his gun, opened the door and pulled Kate out then pulled her father out and told them to get in their car," Mr Khulab said.

"The other masked guy came to the other side and took her mother out." The three hostages were driven into the streets of Gaza, just 200m from the Rafah crossing, marking the border with Egypt. No group admitted taking them, and several have publicly denied involvement. The Burtons had vanished.

But, yesterday, the breakthrough came. First, there were unconfirmed reports that the British family had been freed. They came after a day of deepening turmoil in Gaza.

The Rafah crossing was abandoned by its European Union monitors after they were attacked by 100 angry Palestinian policemen who stormed the terminal, firing in the air.

A 14-year old boy was killed in the melee. Shootings and kidnappings have become a feature in Gaza, but until now hostages including foreigners, have been quickly released by gunmen demanding jobs. In the case of Kate Burton and her parents, no demands were made. Alaa Housni, the Palestinian police chief, said the kidnappers had not been in touch. "These are enemies of the Palestinian people. We will get them. If we have to use force we will."

Such words will be welcome to those who have accused the Palestinian Authority of not doing enough to combat the recent kidnappings of foreigners, but it remains far from clear if the security forces are capable of dealing with the mounting crisis of law and order, and with kidnappers who, thus far, have no face.

Ms Burton's mobile phone rang half an hour after the kidnapping on Wednesday, a call from a friend, Edouardo Ali, a 27-year-old Spanish teacher. Unaware of what had happened, he dialled her number to finalise the details of a trip they had planned to Ramallah. He was shocked to hear a man answer in Arabic and state bluntly that he had kidnapped Ms Burton.

Mr Ali begged to be allowed to speak to her and she was allowed to take the call. They began speaking in Spanish but the man at the other end evidently insisted that they speak in Arabic, a language Ms Burton speaks well and Mr Ali adequately. "She told me she was in a room and she knew where she was," he said. "She told me, 'Don't worry. I'm OK.' We spoke for less than a minute." That was, until yesterday, the last that had been heard of the Burtons.

The night before, Mr and Mrs Burton, aged 73 and 55 respectively, would have heard from the north the Israeli artillery shells fired to deter Qassam rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, and a sonic boom deliberately created by F-16 warplanes, for the same purpose.

But on Wednesday, all was quiet and before leaving Gaza City, the family had another call to make. Two of Ms Burton's brothers are deaf. She is proficient in sign language and has even been learning the Arabic version. Her parents wanted to visit the school for the deaf and dumb. "They were surprised at how good the services were," said Mr Mansour said. And they were even more surprised and delighted to meet a deaf girl named Lubna whom Mr Burton had met on a previous trip to Jordan.

They set out for the south at 1.30pm. Because of the sunshine, Mr Khulab chose the road to Rafah that runs along the Mediterranean coast. Ms Burton wanted to show her parents a refugee camp. At Mr Mansour's suggestion they visited Yibna, close to the Egyptian border. Many of the houses have been destroyed by Israeli bulldozers and tank shells in the past five years during combat with the militants based in the camp.

They stepped out of the taxi. "Kate's father was taking photographs all the time," Mr Mansour said. By chance, a couple whose son had been killed during the intifada, greeted them warmly and invited them into their house. "They were very nice people, they welcomed Kate and her parents and made us all tea," Mr Khulab said. "We were there about an hour. " Mr Mansour and Ms Burton translated for her parents.

Mr Burton, a much-travelled economist for the non-profit Confederation of European Senior Expert Services, in Brussels, and his wife, an accomplished linguist and strong believer in religious tolerance, had been interested in the political situation.

The party got into the taxi and headed for the Rafah crossing ­ which reopened after the Israeli pullout from Gaza in a deal brokered by the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and is monitored by the European Union ­ to allow Palestinians from Gaza to travel in and out of Egypt. Mr Khulab said: "They wanted to see the suffering of the Palestinian people and the destruction of the border but also to see how the crossing was working."

Palestinian security guards denied them entry to the terminal and the family inspected the crossing from the Palestinian side. It was about 3.30pm by now and Mr Khulab, a devout Muslim, took the opportunity to pray. The party then set out on the last leg of a trip that should have seen them collecting the Burtons' bags from the al-Deira hotel and travelling to the northern Erez crossing into Israel.

They did not make it. Mr Khulab was about to make a right turn to the tour's last stop, the airport, which has been unused since the 1990s when it was the most potent symbol of the hopes for a new life for Gaza in the wake of the Oslo accords, when the kidnappers struck.

Mr Mansour said: "It all happened so quickly no one had time to say much. I said, 'What are you doing' to one of the men but he pointed the gun in my face. Kate told her father to get in the [kidnappers'] car. She was calm. No one was screaming or anything. If there was anything I could have done to stop it I would have done, believe me."

Neither he nor Mr Khulab had a weapon. Mr Khulab tried to call for help on his mobile phone but the network was busy so they drove to the Rafah police station, five minutes away, and told officers what had happened. The two men stayed in Rafah until midnight desperately hoping for news.

Two of Ms Burton's friends, Celine Gagne, 25, and Roberto Vila, 33, have arrived in Gaza from Ramallah hoping for news. Like her, they work for an non-governmental organisation passionately devoted to helping Palestinians under occupation. They said they had entertained Ms Burton, her parents, and her 22-year-old brother Emlyn (who flew back to London before the kidnap) at an enjoyable Christmas lunch in a Ramallah restaurant after the Burtons' midnight pilgrimage to Bethlehem.

"We are going to stay here," Ms Gagne said. "We want to be here when Kate is released."