Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, dozens of journalists rallied Thursday for the release of the kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston. Johnston is the only Western journalist permanently based in Gaza. An unknown Palestinian militant group seized him last month.

Shadi Al-Kashif, a reporter with the Palestinian Ramatan news agency: “I think we should continue, we should escalate our activities. And those who are talking about themselves as officials here in the Palestinian territories, they should leave their positions if Alan Johnston is still continue between the hands of his kidnappers.”

Meanwhile, the BBC teamed with broadcasters including Al Jazeera, Sky News and CNN to simulcast a televised special highlighting Johnston’s career and pleading for his release.

Reuters camera operator Shams Odeh: “First of all, free Alan. And we’ll continue to say it — free Alan — until the releasing of our colleague, Alan. You know, we welcomed all the foreign press to come to cover the story in Gaza, and we all helped them, all our people helping the foreign journalists. But the rules of the game have changed now. There is a small group that want to change something in Gaza, for the bad things, not for the good things. Kidnapping foreign journalists is a bad thing for the Palestinian people, and for the Palestinians themselves.”