An Italian pro-Palestinian activist has been captured and murdered by extremists in Gaza,.

Vittorio Arrigoni was found dead in Gaza City by Hamas officials on Thursday after he was kidnapped by a group called "Monotheism and Holy War".

The Italian Foreign Ministry said his killing was a "barbaric murder" and a "vile and irrational gesture of violence on the part of extremists indifferent to the value of a human life."

Mr Arrigoni, a campaigner for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was a vocal opponent of the Israeli government and according to the ISM supported "the Palestinian popular resistance against the Israeli occupation".

The group behind the murder was said to be inspired by al Qaeda.