MIDDLE EAST: Israeli intelligence officials said yesterday they had a general idea of where a captured Israeli soldier was being held in the Gaza Strip, but the militant groups holding him said he was in a "secure place that the Zionists cannot reach".
They also said they had kidnapped a Jewish settler in the West Bank, a claim an Israeli police spokesman said was being taken "very seriously".
After initially downplaying claims on Monday evening by members of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) - a small armed group that carried out the attack on Monday with Hamas in which the soldier was abducted on the Israel-Gaza border - military officials conceded yesterday there were growing fears that Eliyahu Asheri, an 18-year-old resident of the settlement of Itamar, near Nablus, had been abducted.
The kidnapped soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit (19), was most likely being held somewhere in southern Gaza, intelligence officers said. Israeli security officials also expressed fears that Cpl Shalit's captors might try to bring him out of Gaza, into Egypt, possibly in an effort to move him to Lebanon. That would make it much harder for Israel to apply military and diplomatic pressure in an attempt to free him.
Cpl Shalit's captors have not released any photos of him and a PRC spokesman, Mohammed Abdel Al, said Israel would have to pay a price for any information. "We remind them there is nothing for free," he said in Gaza.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said he will not negotiate with Cpl Shalit's captors.
With a third day of diplomatic efforts failing to produce any tangible results, Mr Olmert was said to be considering ordering a broad ground offensive in Gaza. Thousands of troops and armoured vehicles remained poised last night on the Israel-Gaza border. In Gaza, militants placed piles of sand on roads leading into the Strip and laid anti-tank mines in anticipation of an Israeli invasion.
"This strike will come and it will be very painful," warned justice minister Haim Ramon. "In order to stop this, I call on authorities in the Palestinian Authority to do all they can to bring Gilad home."
The US, however, called on Israel not to abandon diplomatic efforts. Condoleezza Rice, on her way to Pakistan, said Israel should "give diplomacy a chance".
Efforts by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh to locate those holding the soldier have also failed. In a meeting late on Monday in Gaza, Mr Abbas reportedly told Mr Haniyeh that if the kidnapped soldier was harmed, he and Hamas foreign minister Mahmoud a-Zahar would be targeted by Israel.