The diplomat, named by Egypt's representative offices in Gaza City as Hossam al-Musseli, was heading toward his office in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City when masked gunmen seized him and drove away, police sources said.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and a spokesman for the radical movement Hamas, which won last month's legislative polls, both condemned the kidnapping, the first of a diplomat in the territory.

Abbas ordered an urgent manhunt for Musseli's captors, calling the seizure "foreign to the traditions of the Palestinian people."

Hamas's spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, told AFP that "those who carry out such acts are seeking to hurt our people and damage distinguished relations that link the Egyptian and Palestinian people."

No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for snatching Musseli, described by Egyptian officials as a military advisor to the diplomatic mission.

Earlier, Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinian militants as they staged a pre-dawn attack at the Erez crossing between northern Gaza and southern Israel.

The attack was the first on the main crossing point from Gaza since troops and Jewish settlers were pulled out of the territory last summer.