Hamas gunmen have killed a young Palestinian they accused of helping Israel assassinate Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and other militants, calling it a warning to others not to collaborate with Israel.
Hamas militants threw the body of Hassan Musalam, 19, out of a speeding car in Gaza City along with a note saying he had been executed for helping Israel assassinate nine Palestinian militants, including Yassin in April.
Musalam had two gunshot wounds to his head and his family said the body showed signs of torture.
"We do not believe that our son has committed these unbelievably serious charges made by Hamas," a relative who declined to be named told journalists.
Relatives said Musalam was an unemployed and uneducated resident of Gaza City who had never visited Israel. They said they believed he had been in Hamas custody for almost two months since disappearing in August.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said his shooting was "a message to collaborators to return to the side of their people as otherwise their fate could be similar to that of Hassan Musalam."
Musalam's killing by Hamas, a group sworn to Israel's destruction, came two days after an Israeli missile killed Hamas's top bomb-maker, in another blow to the Islamic group weakened by a wave of assassinations of its leaders this year.
Palestinian militants have killed almost 100 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000, according to the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group.