"Two masked gunmen on a motorcycle... Opened fire with a machine gun on Mohammed Zeidan in front of his home," the camp official from the mainstream Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said.
"He was transferred to a health centre but was pronounced dead on arrival," the official added, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.
A camp medic said Zeidan had been sprayed with at least 15 bullets.
Armed Fatah loyalists took to the streets of Ain al-Helweh as the news broke.
Some 350,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon, most of them in a dozen camps dotted around the country.
Lebanese forces leave security inside the camps largely in the hands of the Palestinian factions.
