Israel deports Italian after Bethlehem raid

DHEISHEH, Palestinian Territories — Israeli authorities said on Tuesday they had deported an Italian woman detained in a deadly military raid in the Bethlehem area of the occupied West Bank.

Stefania Costantini was arrested on Monday during an incursion by Israeli forces into Dheisheh refugee camp, in the southern West Bank, Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency said.

A 14-year-old boy was shot dead by Israeli forces during the raid, with the army saying forces opened fire when residents threw Molotov cocktails and other weapons at them.

The Shin Bet said Costantini arrived on a tourist visa in May, and was suspected of being involved in the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) militant group.

“Costantini was summoned in September 2022 for interrogation by the Shin Bet, but she did not report [to the authorities] and even continued her activities for the terrorist organisation,” the agency said in a statement.

The PFLP has also been designated a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.

After Costantini’s arrest on Monday, she was handed over to Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, whose spokeswoman said she was deported the same day.

Costantini, 50, said she was beaten by soldiers during her arrest.

“I tried to resist and they beat me a lot, they kicked me on the ground,” she told AFP from the Italian city of Pisa.

“They were shouting that I was a terrorist,” added Costantini, describing herself as a pro-Palestinian activist.

“When I was in the jeep, they kept kicking my legs with their boots,” she said.

The Israeli military did not comment on the allegations when contacted by AFP.

Umm Nidal Abu Aker, 76, said she had hosted Costantini over the past five months.

“She didn’t want to go with them but they hit her and carried her on the shoulders of one soldier,” she said in her home, which was decorated with PFLP flags and those of other Palestinian groups.

Costantini “loved to show her solidarity with Palestinian people”, said Abu Aker, describing the Italian visiting families of Palestinians killed and participating in protests.

Her expulsion came the same day Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani spoke by phone to his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen.

Neither mentioned Costantini’s case in their statements about the call, published on Twitter.

The Italian consulate in Jerusalem did not respond to a request for comment on Costantini’s deportation.

So far this month, 15 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including civilians and fighters, the majority shot dead by Israeli forces, according to an AFP tally.