He came to help those whom the world had ignored.

But for a few deluded opportunists Vittorio Arrigoni was not a brave activist fighting their cause, but a bargaining chip whose demise mattered not.

Arrigoni believed he was driven by partisan blood.

No doubt his killers will claim to be driven by nationalism.

But freedom cannot be built on the blood of innocents and as the Salafists attend Friday prayer later this afternoon, I wonder how they will reconcile their actions with their faith.

It is a deeply saddening development, a dangerous turn under the Hamas administration and most of all, the loss of a man who worked to make the world a better place, despite its nightmarish flaws.