981 Dead Since Ceasefire: West Bank Schools Under Siege as Occupation Crushes a Generation
Since the October 2025 ceasefire, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza [169891][169837]. Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, a different crisis is unfolding: Palestinian children are being systematically blocked from reaching their classrooms by Israeli settlers, military checkpoints, and forced displacement.
In the village of Umm al-Khair, Israeli settlers erected a fence across the main road to school, throwing stun grenades at students who tried to pass [170219]. In Rummon, east of Ramallah, settlers attacked a school under construction, stealing generators and cameras. In Al-Mughayyir, settlers opened fire near a kindergarten, killing a 14-year-old student and a 32-year-old man [170219]. In the Jordan Valley, Israeli forces demolished Al-Maleh School in April, ending education for the 70 students who once attended [170219].
The attacks are not isolated. In Al-Khader, Israeli forces entered multiple schools and interrogated students. In Nablus, settlers damaged school infrastructure. In the Old City of Hebron, students must pass through military checkpoints just to reach class [170219]. For communities like Masafer Yatta, settlers have blocked the only road connecting Umm al-Khair to nearby schools, forcing children to take dangerous alternate routes or miss class entirely [170219].
“The problem has become much bigger than the closure of a single road,” said Walid al-Hathaleen, a local teacher. “We face settler violence, military restrictions, economic hardship, and an unstable education system at the same time. Education in the West Bank is approaching a dangerous point” [170219].
In refugee camps, the situation is compounded by military raids. In Al-Fawwar camp near Hebron, Israeli incursions regularly trap students inside school buildings or prevent them from arriving at all [170219]. Large-scale Israeli raids in early 2025 forced roughly 12,000 displaced Palestinian refugee children into temporary shelters in the northern West Bank, where access to steady education is severely limited [170219].
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has relocated displaced students to other schools and launched online learning, but teachers warn that displacement continues to undermine stability [170219]. An international coalition called “Shared Commitments” has warned that dismantling UNRWA—which provides education, healthcare, and food aid to nearly 6 million registered Palestinian refugees—could destabilize the entire region [170130].
A new United Nations investigation reports that Palestinian civilians face “grave violations” from both Israeli forces and Hamas [169123]. The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry found that civilians are being “systematically and deliberately” subjected to severe rights violations, including settler violence in the West Bank and executions by Hamas in Gaza [168938].
Despite the relentless attacks, teachers continue to teach and parents continue to send their children to school when possible. But for thousands of Palestinian children, the question is no longer just what they will learn—it is whether they can get there at all [170219].