The televised appeal by Graham Johnston came as Simon Wilson, the BBC's Middle East bureau chief, said that it was "disappointing" that there was no firm news of his colleague.

Mr Johnston said at the family home in Argyll, Scotland, that his son's seizure was "no way to treat a friend of the Palestinian people, and all I can say to the men who are holding Alan is: please let my son go, now, today".

Mr Wilson said: "Over the past week, we have worked intensively with the authorities here in Gaza and elsewhere to try to locate Alan and we continue to receive assurances that everything possible is being done.

Mr Wilson told a news conference in Gaza City that the BBC had been assured that Mr Johnston was "OK" but added: "It is disappointing that, after seven days, we still have no firm word either about his whereabouts or about his condition."

Mr Johnston, 44, is a highly experienced journalist, and the only Western correspondent based full-time in Gaza. He was to finish his three-year term at the end of next month. The gunmen seized him from his car as he was driving home from his office in Gaza City.

In Ramallah, about 40 journalists protested against the kidnap in a demonstration attended by Walid Omari, al-Jazeera's senior correspondent in Israel and the West Bank, and Mustafa Barghouti, the Information Minister in the new coalition Palestinian Authority.

Calling for Mr Johnston's release, Mr Omari said it was vital for all journalists in the area to be able to work freely.

In Gaza, the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate called a 24-hour boycott of coverage of internal Palestinian affairs today in protest against Mr Johnston's seizure.

* US officials have indicated - in contrast to Israel - that Washington will have contacts with non-Hamas members of the new PA. But they also signalled that the US would not resume the direct funding that ended in the wake of Hamas's election victory last year.