(BRUSSELS) - EU lawmakers called on the Palestinian Authority and the European Union to step up efforts to free BBC reporter Alan Johnston, kidnapped in the Gaza Strip more than a month ago.

In a resolution, lawmakers urged the "Palestinian Authority and the wider international community to re-double their efforts so as to ensure the safe release of Alan Johnston."

Johnston was snatched at gunpoint as he drove home from work in Gaza City on March 12. He has now been held for far longer than any other Western hostage in the territory.

On April 15, a little-known Islamist group claimed in a statement to have killed him, but Palestinian authorities have said there was no proof of the claim by the Kataeb al-Jihad al-Tawheed (The Brigades of Holy War and Unity).

Johnston, 44, was the only Western journalist left working full time in the increasingly dangerous Gaza Strip when he was taken.

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