With absolute immunity, aggressive settlers attack school children as they try so hard to continue their education.
Deadly Israeli settler attack on school kills two in Ramallah
Two people have been killed after Israeli settlers opened fire on a school in the occupied West Bank, including a 14-year-old boy shot in the head. The attack comes amid a surge in violence by settlers and Israeli forces against Palestinians.
Students supported by Save the Children have been blocked from entering their school by an illegal barbed-wire fence, erected by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
22 April, Ramallah – At least 55 Palestinian children have been blocked from attending school for the past ten school days because their path has been blocked by a barbed-wire fence, illegally erected by Israeli settlers.
Students, teachers and families have been protesting the blockage in Khirbet Umm Al‑Khair in the occupied Palestinian territory for the last ten days through staged peaceful ‘sit‑ins’, turning the area near the fence into an informal outdoor classroom.
Some of these children were reportedly exposed to tear gas during their sit-in, according to the West Bank Education Cluster. The school children had been due back in class for the first time in more than 40 days, after schools were closed across the West Bank during the recent escalation of violence in the region. Now, because of the barbed-wire blockade, the students in Khirbet Umm Al Khair have been unable to attend school for almost two months.
Save the Children work with the community directly and through a partner, The Agricultural Development Association (PARC), in Khirbet Umm Al-Khair, through distributing of essential items and livelihood assistance such as winter kits and animal feed.
The situation for children in the West Bank has deteriorated in 2026 due to intensified military operations, expanding restrictions for Palestinians, and rising settler violence, with children reporting being harassed and attacked while en route to school.
This week two children were killed by Israeli settlers, according to the Ministry of Health – one of the children was reported to have been killed whilst in his school grounds.[1] Also this week, the Ministry of Education reported the demolition of a school for 70 students by the Israeli forces in the northern Jordan Valley. [2] [3] Data from the University of Cambridge and the UN shows that in 2025, 195,000 class-minutes were lost for children in the West Bank – the equivalent of about 4.5 months of learning time – due to targeted attacks on education by settlers and the Israeli military. [4]
Kareem* 10, a student involved in the sit-in, said:
“We were excited to go to school, but during the night settlers came and blocked the path. Now we’re trapped and can’t study. I really wanted to go to school, but it didn’t work out. The last time we studied was a month and a half ago. For Palestinian students, education is the key to liberating the country.”
Yousef*, 30, a teacher who is involved in the sit-in, said:
“Today is the tenth day in a row that we’ve been staging a sit-in at the fence, demanding that the road be opened for the children. This is a very simple and basic demand; every child has the right to education. This is what we’re demanding.
“These students were deprived of education due to the war. The night before classes resumed, the settlers knew and blocked the road. The goal isn’t simply to block the road and prevent the children from attending under the pretext that the land belongs to the settlers. No, the goal is to pressure the residents through the children, to force them to leave. We are trying to get the road back on track, and we will continue until we succeed.”
Save the Children is calling on governments to pressure the Israeli authorities to end all discriminatory policies and practices contributing to the coercive environment in the West Bank and across the occupied Palestinian territory, including ending the blockade to the school in Khirbet Umm Al‑Khair. There must be an end to state-sanctioned violence and attacks by settlers as well as ensuring those responsible are held to account and providing full reparations to affected people.
Ahmad Alhendawi, Regional Director for Save the Children in the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said:
“What we are seeing on the ground is a worrying attack on children’s right to education. The Israeli authorities and settlers are ending any sense of safety that previously existed for the three million Palestinians currently living in West Bank. No child should be denied the right to education, too scared to walk to school or be faced with violence while travelling to school.
Students and teachers across the occupied Palestinian territory have been killed, maimed, arrested, and detained. In Gaza, we’re at risk of seeing a lost generation emerge as children are now in their third year of missing school, they need to get back to the classroom not only for their own individual development but for the future of Palestinian society.
We demand that all children throughout the occupied Palestinian territory have access to schools and places of learning, these must be safe spaces for children and educational staff. Palestinian children are entitled to the opportunity to go to school to learn and play, to grow up, and to have a future.”
Save the Children has been responding in West Bank since 1953. We are supporting students with educational and play kits, including stationary, working with partners to help provide quality education, protection for children, early childhood development support, and employment opportunities for young people. We are working throughout the West Bank distributing essential items and livelihood assistance such as sheep milkers, solar panels, and pools for washing livestock.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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