A Spanish photographer was today kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen as he walked out of his flat in the Gaza Strip.

Emilio Morenatti, who works for the Associated Press agency, was on his way to work when he was snatched and forced into a waiting vehicle.

The kidnap took place while Majed Hamdan, an AP driver and translator, sat helplessly nearby in the car they had been due to share.

Hamdan said four gunmen grabbed his keys and phone and told him to turn away, pressing a gun to his head and threatening to harm him if he moved.

Then they grabbed Mr Morenatti, 37, pushed him into a white Volkswagen and drove off.

No group has so far come forward to claim responsibility for the abduction and Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian government, condemned the kidnapping.

Pleding that the Government would work for his release, he said that the abduction "damages the reputation of the Palestinian people".

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said the kidnapping "contradicts our culture and our morals and our religion". He called on the kidnappers to release him unharmed.

After the kidnapping, the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, spoke to Miguel Moratinos, the Spanish Foreign Minister, to assure him that he was doing everything in his power to get Mr Morenatti released quickly.

Palestinian militants in Gaza have often kidnapped foreign journalists and aid workers. All those kidnapped so far have been released unharmed.

In the most recent incident two Fox News journalists were kidnapped in Gaza in August and held for two weeks.

Mr Morenatti, from Jerez, has been working for the AP in Jerusalem since April 2005. As part of his job, he would periodically go to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and had been in Gaza since Sunday.

He began working for the AP in April 2004, when he spent a year in Afghanistan covering the conflict there.

Tom Curley, the AP president and chief executive officer in New York, said: "The Associated Press is working to find out just what happened to Emilio. We are in contact with Palestinian officials and leaders to learn more, and to try and obtain his release. Our main concern now, however, is for his safety.

"Emilio has spent his career representing the values that AP stands for - truthful, accurate journalism that tells all sides of the story. It is a sad development when the men and women the world rely on to bring them objective news are subject to such dangers. No cause or motive can justify such senseless action."

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