Napolitano says Camilli's death must be a warning to all

President extends sympathies to slain reporter's family

(ANSA) - Rome, August 14 - The death of Italian reporter Simone Camilli in the Gaza Strip should act as a warning, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said Thursday. Camilli was killed Wednesday by an Israeli grenade along with a Palestinian colleague and three Palestinian explosives experts who were trying to defuse it. "Simone's death, like that of the other victims of the blast and those of the many civilians of all ages and nationalities trapped in the violence of the war-torn Middle East, must act as warning...to us all," said the president while conveying his sympathies to the slain reporter's family and colleagues.

Camilli, 35, was an adept war reporter, covering 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. He 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.