Hamas calls upon Egypt to disclose information on 'abductees'

The Hamas Islamist movement has called upon Egypt to officially disclose information about four Palestinians "abducted" in Egypt two weeks ago, a Hamas official said on Friday.

During a sit-in attended by hundreds of Hamas members in front of the closed Egyptian embassy in Gaza, Hamas political bureau member Khalil Al-Hayyah called for an official Egyptian move to reveal infomation about the abductees and release them, Xinhua reported.

Al-Hayyah added that the lack of official information for two weeks on the incident, "affects Egypt's sovereignty and pride," holding the Egyptian Authorities responsible for what he dubbed as humanitarian and legal crime.

The Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip had announced that four Palestinian residents of Gaza "have been kidnapped" on August 19 in the Egyptian town of Rafah after they travelled from Gaza through the Rafah crossing.

This was the first time for Palestinians travellers through Rafah crossing to be abducted after entering Egypt.