During a blitz by the Israeli army in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, a 50-year-old Italian citizen, Stefania Costantini, who was this morning in the Dheisheh refugee camp, was arrested.
At the moment the reasons for the detention are not clear, but the Italian diplomatic authorities, the consulate in Jerusalem and the embassy in Israel are following the matter closely.
Some local sources, quoted by the Palestinian agency Wafa, reported that “Israeli soldiers broke into the home of Palestinian journalist Nidal Abu Aker, beat his son, who had just undergone surgery, and questioned his wife.”
The soldiers, continued Wafa, also entered the house of Abu Aker’s elderly mother, where they found the activist and arrested her. In the video it is the woman who is taken and carried away upside down. During the raid, the young residents of the camp tried to oppose the military, who responded by firing live ammunition and tear gas.
A 14-year-old boy, Omar Khmour, died after being shot in the head. He was seriously injured and rushed to the hospital, where he later died. Israeli soldiers left the camp after arresting a 24-year-old boy.
Last January 3, again in Dheisheh, a 15-year-old boy was killed following another incursion by Israeli soldiers: his name was Adam Ayyad. And three Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank on Saturday.
Following a series of deadly attacks on Israelis last March and April, Israeli forces launched night raids into the West Bank in which dozens of people were killed. This violence made 2022 the deadliest year in the West Bank since 2005, when the United Nations began recording the figure in the area.
