In the Gaza Strip, a previously unknown Palestinian group is claiming to have executed the kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston. Johnston has been missing for over a month. The group calls itself the Tawhid and Jihad Brigade. Its claim could not be verified.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat: “I hope that Mr. Johnston is alive. I think, as I said, the last thing Palestinian people need at this hour of difficulty, at this overloaded luggage of complexities, is to see such despicable acts of abducting foreign journalists and others continue. This is the only thing that this is doing is destroying us as Palestinians, destroying the just cause of the Palestinian peoples.”