Israel will not allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to leave the Gaza Strip, part of the closure clamped on the territory after the abduction of an Israeli soldier, military officials said today.

A Palestinian militant leader today said a captured Israeli soldier was being held in a “secure place,” and he claimed that his group also seized a Jewish settler in the West Bank.

Israel today opened an additional crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow emergency food from Egypt to enter the impoverished Palestinian area.