GAZA CITY (AFP) -- AFP photographer Jaime Razuri was freed in the Gaza Strip seven days after being abducted by masked gunmen in the latest foreigner kidnapping in the volatile territory.

Palestinian security forces handed over the 50-year-old Peruvian to AFP representatives at Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's compound in Gaza City just before 1800 GMT. Minutes after his release, a relieved Razuri told AFP: "I'm fine. I'm very happy to be released. They treated me well and gave me good food." He also thanked "all those who were involved in my release."

"It was not a five-star hotel but it was very good. I was treated very well. I'm as well as I was when I arrived in Gaza," Razuri said.

Wearing a blue anorak, the gray-haired Razuri, his silver beard neatly trimmed, spoke by telephone with Abbas and later thanked all those who had helped secure his release.

"I'm very grateful," he said in English inside the presidential compound.

Accompanied by Peruvian and French diplomats, Razuri left Gaza and crossed the Erez border point into Israel just before 2000 GMT.

The photographer was snatched by four gunmen from outside AFP's offices in Gaza City on January 1 as he was returning from an assignment. No group had claimed responsibility for the abduction or issued any demands.

Palestinian security sources said earlier Sunday that it appeared one of Gaza's powerful clans was holding Razuri in Gaza City.

"I'm very happy that everything ended well. We were only doing our duty," Mohammed Dahlan, a top official in Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party who was involved in securing Razuri's release, told AFP.

In a statement in Paris, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy hailed Razuri's liberation and thanked all those who helped bring it about.

In Peru, radio and television stations interrupted their Sunday programming to announce Razuri's liberation.

"We have extraordinary news -- Jaime Razuri has been freed," said the presenter on the cable Canal N channel.

Both Peru and France had condemned the abduction, and diplomatic efforts -- led by Peruvian Deputy Foreign Minister Gonzalo Gutierrez and backed by French diplomats -- had been under way for days to secure Razuri's release.

Abbas and the Hamas-led government had both criticized the kidnapping, saying it harmed Palestinian interests.