Earlier, the Palestinian police chief said the unidentified kidnappers of the three had not presented demands or been in contact after the abduction.
Foreigners taken hostage in Gaza have usually been released within hours. The kidnappers in those cases have demanded jobs or the release of prisoners as ransom and generally make contact with the authorities to immediately begin negotiations.
Witnesses said around seven kidnappers, armed with automatic rifles, had pulled over a car used by 25-year-old Burton and her parents. The Britons were bundled into a white vehicle that sped away.
Gaza has seen a rash of kidnappings since Israel quit the coastal territory in September after 38 years of occupation, a move welcomed internationally as a potential spur to peace but which left the Palestinian Authority struggling for control.
A Dutchman and an Australian, teachers at a Gaza school, were briefly abducted last week by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which demanded that its leaders be released from jail.
As Kate Burton worked for Al Mazen, a group that documents alleged Israeli abuses of Palestinian rights, her abduction sparked popular protests in Gaza.
“The family’s abduction and exposure to danger is absolutely unlawful, totally unjustified and counter-productive,” said Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.
“Mrs Burton, Kate’s mother, has been active in the inter-faith movement in the UK and Europe for many years,” Sacranie said in a statement.
The smaller Muslim Association of Britain said later its representative Ziad Aloul would be leaving first thing today for the Palestinian territory.
“We fear that the kidnapping of Kate Burton — who is a well known activist in defending the human rights of the Palestinian people — and her parents will tarnish the civilised face of the Palestinian people and weaken the international support to their just cause,” it said.
“We and all those who support the Palestinian people and their right in freedom and independence reject any kidnapping in principle and reject to use the lives of innocent people in internal negotiations and to achieve internal political or economic gains in any circumstances.
“We call upon the kidnappers to understand the serious consequences to their actions and to try to amend this grave mistake by the immediate release of the hostages.
The statement was signed by the Muslim Association of Britain, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum, Palestine Return Centre and Palestinian Community in Britain.
Reverend David Stone, rector of St Nicolas’s Church near to the family home, told the news agency that the kidnapping was a “great shock”.
“The troubles of the Middle East feel a long way from the peace of Newbury. So it comes as a great shock to realise that this incident involves people who are our near neighbours and live just yards away from the church,” he said.
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