The BBC said today that it was becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of one of its journalists who is feared to have been abducted in the Gaza Strip.
Alan Johnston disappeared exactly a week ago amid reports that he had been snatched by four masked gunmen in a white Subaru in Gaza City.
BBC statement
The 44-year-old is said to have thrown his business card on to the street as he was being taken away. Officials from the Hamas-led government have claimed the correspondent was kidnapped by a "well-known" group for a ransom.
In a statement today, BBC News said: "Although we have not been able to establish exactly what has happened to Alan, it seems certain that he has been abducted and is being held somewhere in the Gaza Strip.
"As time passes, we are growing increasingly concerned about Alan's safety.
An undated picture of Alan Johston in Gaza
"Over the past week, we have worked intensively with the authorities in Gaza and elsewhere to try to locate Alan and we continue to receive assurances that everything possible is being done.
"However, it is disappointing that after seven days there has still been no firm word either about his whereabouts or his condition.
"We call on everyone with influence on this situation to redouble their efforts now that Alan has been missing for more than one week."
More than a dozen foreign journalists and aid workers have been abducted in Gaza, with most released unharmed within hours. Mr Johnston is from Scotland, where his parents still live at Lochgoilhead, Argyll.
He joined the BBC's World Service newsroom in 1991 and has also reported from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. His posting to Gaza began in April 2004 and he is due to return to London at the end of April this year.
PA