Emilio Morenatti, a Spanish photographer for Associated Press news agency, seen here in September 2005, was released by his kidnappers in the Gaza Strip after less than a day in captivity, security sources said.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    CAIRO, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish photographer working for U.S.-based Associated Press who was kidnapped by unknown masked militant near a Gaza hotel on Tuesday is now in the process of being released, the pan-Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera reported.

    The report quoted a Palestinian source as saying that the photographer, Emilio Morenatti, has been sent to safe place and is waiting for the release.

    Morenatti was seized by four masked gunmen and thrown into a vehicle as he left his residency in Gaza City early Tuesday morning.

    No individuals and groups have claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, so far.

    The Palestinian territories, which were undergoing unprecedented financial and political crises after the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) took power in late March, have witnessed several abductions of foreign journalists and workers.

    Earlier this month, unknown gunmen kidnapped a U.S. student volunteer in the West Bank but released him within hours.

    In August, two journalists working for the U.S. Fox News channel were abducted in the Gaza Strip and were freed after being held by militants for two weeks.

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