Palestinians went on strike across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank Wednesday and vowed a wave of demonstrations against Israel's seizure of the leader of a militant group from a Palestinian jail.

Israeli security forces were on high alert after Ahmed Saadat's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Islamist militant group Hamas promised retaliation.

Israeli forces grabbed Saadat after tanks and bulldozers tore apart Jericho jail on Tuesday. The Jewish state said the raid sent a powerful message to Hamas, which is forming a Palestinian Government after winning elections in January.

Israel has accused Saadat of involvement in the 2001 killing of an Israeli cabinet minister and said it had no choice but to act after the United States and Britain, citing security concerns, withdrew monitors supervising his incarceration.

In Gaza, shops were shuttered in protest at the Israeli operation and many children had to return home after they arrived at closed schools. Shops in key West Bank towns were also closed.

Palestinian militants yesterday released the last four foreigners they were holding, a day after seizing the hostages to protest at the Israeli military raid.

Palestinian security officials escorted the four hostages, a South Korean journalist, two French citizens and a Canadian aid worker, into the headquarters of the Palestinian preventive security agency in Gaza City.

Source: China Daily