Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to deplore the killing of an Italian journalist by Israeli troops during fighting in Ramallah on the West Bank on Wednesday.
Freelance photographer Raffaele Ciriello was hit in the abdomen by a burst of fire from an Israeli tank as he and an Italian TV cameraman were covering the actions of Palestinian gunmen.
This, regrettably, was the fatal outcome of a number of incidents where journalists have come under fire in the Middle East and is a reminder that journalists put their lives on the line in their effort to keep the eye of the world on tragic conflicts such as that now ensuing between Israelis and Palestinians.