The Palestinian National Security Council declared a state of alert in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, hours after a series of kidnappings of Palestinian officials and French citizens.

Security around public buildings was reinforced and all leave was canceled for security officials.

Four French citizens kidnapped in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis were released late Friday night, after being held by militants for several hours.

The French were seen coming out of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society building where they had been locked up.

The kidnappers belonged to the Ahmed Abu el-Rish Brigades, one of the armed wings of the Fatah movement in the southern Gaza Strip, they said.

A top Palestinian security official, refusing to be identified,told reporters that there had been no negotiations with the captors about the release.

"It is over, the French guys are free, and the kidnappers have escaped from the building," said the official.

The latest abduction was the third of its kind in the Gaza Strip within 10 hours on Friday.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian gunmen abducted Gaza police chief Ghazi al-Jabali and general security official Khaled Abu el-Olla.

Jabali was later released after mediation, but the security official was still being held by the militants who demand that thePalestinian National Authority fight corruption.

Source: Xinhua