At the end of the afternoon, Rami Ayad said goodbye to his fellow workers at Gaza's Bible Society and headed home. He never got there.

In the hours after Mr Ayad's failed to return home, his wife and his brother spoke to him on his mobile phone. Both were concerned that something was wrong. His brother, Ramzi, said he had heard fear in his voice. Later, Rami called his wife and told her he was in a faraway place and would be very late; the next morning, his body was found in a street. He had been stabbed several times and shot in the head.

His friends and family are convinced his only crime was that he was a Christian - and his murder, on October 7, has persuaded many in the 3,000-strong Christian community they are no longer welcome in Gaza.

It is not clear whether Mr Ayad's murder was a kidnapping that went wrong or whether he was targeted as part of a continuing campaign against Christian and western influences in Gaza. The Bible Society is primarily involved in offering charity to Muslim families, but Mr Ayad had nevertheless been threatened several times; and the day before his abduction, he was followed by a group of men in a car.

The society - originally the British Palestine Bible Society - has long been a target for Islamist extremists. A grenade was thrown at its premises in protest at the publication in Denmark of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, and a bomb was detonated outside earlier this year.

Christians have been in Gaza since the fourth century, but Mr Ayad's murder follows a series of incidents that has shaken the community's desire to stay. Christians have been a frequent target of crime in recent years.

"Everything has changed. In the times of my father and grandfather, there was no difference between Muslims and Christians," said Ibrahim Ayad, another brother of the victim. "The Islamic revival has also brought intolerance in its wake." . He said he would leave Gaza as soon as he had identified his brother's killers and got retribution.

He estimated that 70% of the Christian community would leave when they had the opportunity, possibly at Christmas, when Israel usually allows Christians some movement out of Gaza.

He said many Muslims perceived Christians as "kaffirs", or unbelievers, which meant they were not subject to the same laws as Muslims. "We hear this word each day. Most of the time we laugh it off as a joke. My seven-year-old son goes to a Christian school and one of his Muslim friends told him that he would go to hell because he is a Christian."

The Bible Society premises, in the busy Palestine Square, are securely closed behind a large poster of Rami Ayad. The last person to see him alive was Atef Afana, a Muslim who worked alongside him in the shop. He is not scared for his life but he is clearly anxious. "We just said goodbye and see you on Monday. Although he was nervous, he did not expect any evil because he had no evil himself," he said.

Ibrahim Ayad said many leaders of Hamas had come to the funeral and to pay their respects and had told him his brother's murder was as much an attack on them as him. "But if they were doing their job properly. he would still be alive," he said.

Leaders of Hamas have always been clear in their support for Gaza's Christian community, but the murder of Rami Ayad has called into question their ability to protect that community and maintain law and order in general.

Taher Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas government, said the police hoped to arrest the killers very soon. "We respect the fears of the Christian community," he said. "At the moment the community is very emotional, and we hope that once they see the murderers have been caught, they will reconsider their desire to leave."