Gaza City, Gaza Strip - Palestinian security forces hunted for two abducted Fox News journalists Tuesday, and the Palestinian president and prime minister intervened in an attempt to gain their release.

This undated image from video, released by Fox News, shows Fox correspondent Steve Centanni, a US citizen who was kidnapped by masked Palestinian gunmen Monday Aug. 14, 2006 in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, along with a cameraman from New Zealand, according to witnesses and Fox. [AP Photo]

President Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas-led government, scheduled meetings with the news organization's Jerusalem bureau chief, Eli Fastman, and its chief correspondent in Israel, Jennifer Griffin.

The prime minister assured the Fox News representatives that Palestinian security forces would use all their power to "put an end to it soon," said government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said, without elaborating.

Investigators said the president's office was closely following the probe into the abduction.

American reporter Steve Centanni, 60, and New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, were seized by masked gunmen Monday near the headquarters of the Palestinian security services.

"The family's holding up OK," Centanni's brother, Ken, said Tuesday from his San Jose, Calif., home. "We're confident things will resolve themselves. But we haven't heard from the kidnappers yet."

He said the family always worried something like this would happen, but his brother had little fear.

No one has claimed responsibility for kidnapping, and police said no demands have been made. Major militant groups denied any connection to the abduction.

In fighting early Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike blew up a house in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing two people and wounding at least four people, hospital officials said.

The army said the house was used as a weapons storehouse by militants and that the residents were warned to leave before the strike. Neighbors said residents of the house had apparently ignored the warnings.

Also Wednesday, the army said it shot and hit two Palestinians trying to infiltrate into Israel from Gaza. But the army could not confirm if they were killed and Palestinian officials said ambulances could not reach the area.

Israel launched a large scale offensive in Gaza on June 25 after Hamas-linked militants tunneled under the border, killing two soldiers and capturing another, Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

US and New Zealand officials focused their efforts on getting the two journalists freed.

US officials said they were in touch with Abbas' office, Palestinian security officials and the Israelis to see if they can help secure the journalists' release.

"Certainly we are concerned about their safety, that is why we are working to ensure their freedom," said Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, a spokeswoman for the US consulate in Jerusalem.

She said it was still unclear who was holding the journalists.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark dispatched diplomats to Gaza to assist in any contacts for their release. She said she was "very concerned" about the kidnapping.

Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, said Fox representatives told her negotiations for their release were already under way. But officials in Gaza said no contact had been established with the kidnappers.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal called on Palestinians to give the authorities any information they had regarding the missing journalists and denied that the kidnappers had any connection with al-Qaida.

Nabil Abu Rdeinah, an Abbas aide, said the president ordered all security forces to work on tracking the two journalists. "This is an unacceptable act. We condemn this operation and hope we would succeed to find a peaceful solution very soon," he said.

An investigator in the case, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize the investigation, said suspicions were focusing on a renegade group from an established Palestinian militant organization, but he declined to give further details. The car in which the journalists were taken has been identified, he said.