THE kidnapped British aid worker, Kate Burton, and her parents were freed in Gaza early this morning and taken to Israel after an international effort to secure their release.

“We’re on our way to Erez,” Ms Burton, 24, was quoted as saying as she was whisked into a British diplomatic vehicle, referring to the Erez crossing on the Israeli border. Her parents Hugh, 73, and Win, 55, followed in another British car.

“She was not hurt, her parents were OK and she plans to visit Gaza next week,” Adnan Hajjar, a colleague of Ms Burton, said.

Shortly before they were freed, a previously unknown group calling itself the Brigades of the Mujahidin released a video showing Ms Burton standing beside a masked gunman. He read out a statement condemning Britain’s role in the “Palestinian tragedy” and threatened that more hostages would be taken unless the group’s demands were met.

The group said that it had freed the British hostages as a “gesture of goodwill” and had received assurances that Britain and the European Union would work to end the Israeli no-go zone in northern Gaza.

Negotiations went on all day yesterday, after groups such as Hamas and the al-Aqsa Brigade joined the calls for the hostages’ immediate release. A breakthrough was reported late in the evening, but the hand-over was delayed for five hours while intermediaries haggled over the group’s statement.

British diplomats who helped to broker their release said that arrangements were being made to fly the family back to Britain as soon as possible. Ms Burton’s brother, Jamie, 27, was waiting for them in Jerusalem.

Ms Burton, a fluent Arabic speaker, became involved in working for Palestinian refugees when she was studying at the London School of Economics. Her parents supported her decision to work in Gaza and they and two of her brothers were visiting her for the holidays. She previously worked for the United Nations in Gaza, but for the past three months has been a fundraiser for the al-Mezan human rights centre.

The Burtons were abducted on Wednesday at the entrance to Gaza’s defunct airport after a day’s sightseeing by taxi, in which they had visited an Orthodox church, a mosque, the abandoned Israeli settlement at Atzmona and the refugee camp at Yibneh. A white Mazda screeched into the path of their Mercedes taxi and two masked men in fatigues leapt out, threatening them with AK47s. Manzer Mansoor, the Burtons’ guide, said:

“They shouted, ‘Get out of the car, get out of the car’.” He said one man pointed a gun in his face. Ms Burton and her parents were dragged out and pushed into the Mercedes, which roared off towards the warren of Gaza’s refugee camps.

Shortly afterwards Ms Burton reassured a friend who called her mobile phone that she was fine and knew where she was being held.

Unaware of the kidnap, Eduardo Ali, who teaches Spanish in Gaza, called Ms Burton and got one of the kidnappers, who told him that she had been kidnapped before agreeing to pass the phone to her.

Ms Burton could speak only for a few seconds. “She just had time to say she was fine,” Mr Ali, 27, said. “She was in a room and she knew where she was. ‘Don’t worry about me, I’m OK’, she said.”

After the kidnap, Jamie Burton stayed in Jerusalem, liasing with British diplomats. Ms Burton’s youngest brother, Emlyn, 22, flew home on Tuesday. The third brother, Toby, was last night at his London home.

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