BICOM

The body of Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, was found by Hamas security forces in Gaza yesterday. Arrigoni, who was an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, was hung in the home of a member of an extreme terrorist organisation known as “Monotheism and Holy War”. The terrorist group later released a video claiming responsibility for the attack. Two suspects were arrested for the incident and Hamas officials said that they were seeking a third.

The Jihadist Salafi group in the Gaza Strip had threatened to execute Arrigoni by 5pm local time on Thursday unless their leader Sheikh Abu Walid-al-Maqdasi, whom Hamas arrested in March, was freed. PA President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of Arrigoni saying that a kidnapping was counterproductive and harmful to the Palestinian cause. By the time Hamas security forces stormed an apartment in Gaza City, they already found Arrigoni dead. The Hamas Interior Ministry claim that Arrigoni was killed shortly after he was abducted.

Arrigoni was the first foreign national to be abducted in the Gaza Strip since BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who was held for 114 days by an al Qaeda-inspired clan group named the Army of Islam. He was released in 2007.