An Italian journalist was
killed by a grenade in the Gaza Strip that left an additional
four people dead on Wednesday and injured several.
Simone Camilli, 35, was killed by a blast that occurred
when Palestinian experts were trying to defuse the unexploded
grenade launched by an Israeli tank, according to reports.
Palestinian photographer Ali Abu Afash, who was acting as
Camilli's interpreter, and three members of the bomb squad also
died in the blast, staff at Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza said.
The slain journalists - along with Hatem Mussa from
Palestinian news agency WAFA, who survived the explosion but is
gravely wounded - had been allowed to document the defusing of
that particular device, even though such operations are usually
carried out with no non-essential people in the vicinity.
The operation went horribly wrong, causing another five
devices nearby to explode, eyewitnesses told ANSA.
Family members said Camilli had been based in the Middle
East but covered a wide range of major events, including the
crash in January 2012 of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that
resulted in 32 deaths, and the conclave that elected pope
emeritus Benedict XVI in February 2005.
He authored the documentary About Gaza, which tells the
story of the difficult lives of Palestinians in their daily
struggles for survival in the shadow of the conflict with
Israel.
He also covered first-hand Israel's Pillar of Cloud
offensive in Gaza in December 2012, the 2011 exchange of 1,027
Palestinian prisoners for former Israeli Defense Forces soldier
Gilad Shalit, the arrest in May 2011 of former Bosnian Serb
commander and accused war criminal Ratko Mladic, the 2008 war
between Russia and Georgia, and the November 2007 clashes
between Turkey and Kurdish militants.
Camilli is the first foreign journalist to die on the job in
the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, along with 16
local colleagues.
The slain reporter is survived by his wife and
three-year-old daughter.
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