RAMALLAH — In the second abduction in as many weeks, Palestinian gunmen in military uniform raided an apartment in the Gaza Strip and took away a 75-year-old American.

Harry Borrey was driven off in a civilian car from Rafah by three masked men.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said Borrey was found an hour later unharmed on Sunday, Middle East Newsline reported. The center did not explain the reason for the abduction.

Borrey was abducted from an apartment that he shared with three other U.S. nationals. The four Americans were said to have arrived in the Gaza Strip in July 2005.

"The four U.S. citizens came into Gaza this month to witness the consequences of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian people," the center said in a statement. "They have conducted a series of visits in which they witnessed destruction across the Gaza Strip."

Palestinian sources said Rafah contains a small Western community that has sought to rebuild the southern Gaza town in wake of the destruction of hundreds of buildings in Israeli military operations over the last four years. In 2003 and 2004, the Westerners tried to block Israeli main battle tanks and bulldozers from entering Rafah in missions against Palestinian insurgents along the Egyptian border.

On July 13, two Western employees were abducted from Gaza City and taken to the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. After nearly a day, the two engineers — said to have been kidnapped by a criminal gang — were released unharmed.

Western embassies have warned their nationals from traveling or living in the Gaza Strip. Over the last three years, most countries have moved their liasion offices with the Palestinian Authority from Gaza City to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"It is unclear to PCHR what the fate of the kidnappers is and what measures have been taken by the PA to confront this phenomenon," the center said in a statement. "PCHR is deeply concerned by the repetition of this practise which takes place in the context of the continued deterioration in the security situation across the Gaza Strip."