Palestinian parents fear for children as settler attacks surge

Palestinian parents in the occupied West Bank are sending their children back to school under heightened security fears as attacks by Israeli settlers and Israeli forces continue to raise concerns about the safety of pupils.

In the village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, school authorities have strengthened security around a boys’ school after several residents, including students, were killed in violence in and around the village this year.

School principal Bassam al-Assaf said the atmosphere among pupils and their families remained deeply anxious as the new academic year began.

“We are scared,” he said, describing fears shared by students, teachers and parents.

The school has installed additional barbed-wire fencing and reinforced its gates in an effort to protect children from possible attacks. Ambulance teams have also been positioned outside the school, while some parents have volunteered to remain near the entrance during school hours.

The measures follow a deadly incident in April when 14-year-old pupil Aws al-Naasan was shot outside the school. Teachers said students were inside classrooms when the shooting took place.

English teacher Waheed Abu Naem recalled receiving warnings from pupils that settlers were near the school wall. He said he attempted to move children to a safer location when gunfire erupted.

According to his account, Aws was struck by a bullet and died from his injuries. Abu Naem said further shots hit the school building while frightened pupils hid inside classrooms.

The Israeli military said at the time that stones had been thrown at a vehicle carrying civilians, including a reservist soldier, who subsequently got out and fired at people he identified as suspects. Israeli media later reported that the reservist was suspended and an investigation was opened.

The violence has continued since then. Local residents say two additional school-age children were killed during incidents involving Israeli forces and settler attacks in the village over the summer, while a 19-year-old former pupil was also killed.

The Israeli army has said in cases involving its forces that soldiers responded to people involved in violent disturbances.

Parents fear sending children to school

The deaths have left some families questioning whether it is safe to send their children to school.

Haroon Bishara, whose sons attend the first and second grades, said parents had become increasingly worried about their children’s safety.

He said parents had come to the school to make children feel that their families were nearby and that they were not alone.

Despite their fears, however, residents say they do not want violence to force them from their homes or land.

Teachers have introduced pupils to safety procedures, repeatedly instructing them not to approach soldiers or settlers, shout at them or react if they come close to the school.

The concerns became tangible soon after the beginning of the new school year, when settlers were seen moving sheep through Palestinian farmland a short distance from the school while Israeli soldiers were nearby.

Residents say settler activity has increasingly moved closer to the village since April.

Al-Mughayyir has become increasingly surrounded by Israeli settler outposts, while Israeli military checkpoints and restrictions on access have added to residents’ concerns.

Palestinian residents accuse Israeli forces of providing protection to settlers during incursions. Israeli authorities have rejected allegations of systematic wrongdoing, while the Israeli military did not provide a response to all the allegations raised in the report.

Children increasingly caught up in violence

Residents say the impact of the violence extends beyond the school grounds.

Hadi al-Naasan, an ambulance driver in the village, said attacks and casualties had increased significantly during 2026. He alleged that Israeli forces were increasingly protecting settlers during incursions and that Palestinian children were among those suffering injuries.

A United Nations commission that reported on the situation in June said attacks by settlers had increasingly affected Palestinian children and described incidents involving children near their homes, on their way to school, while farming or while tending livestock.

Israel rejected the commission’s findings, describing the report as biased and defamatory.

One family in Al-Mughayyir says the consequences have already been devastating.

Nine-year-old Salim, the son of sheep farmer Sami Abu Rahma, was shot and injured while playing with his siblings near the family’s farm in July. The bullet remains lodged in his arm.

Security-camera footage from the farm reportedly shows the child warning his family after seeing settlers approaching. The children then ran for shelter as gunshots were heard.

Sami said the incident had left him questioning how he could protect his children when even their home and school could no longer be considered safe.

He alleged that the man who shot his son lived in a nearby settler outpost and had previously ordered the family to leave their land.

The regional settlers’ council said an off-duty soldier had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the shooting. It condemned violence against innocent people and rejected allegations that the wider settler community was pursuing a deliberate policy of harming children or forcing Palestinians from their homes.

Al-Mughayyir is part of a wider pattern reported across the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian communities say new settler outposts are expanding around their villages and attacks are increasingly occurring closer to homes and public facilities.

UN figures indicate that Palestinian injuries linked to settler attacks and Israeli military operations have risen sharply. The United Nations recorded hundreds of Palestinians killed and thousands injured by Israeli forces or settlers from the beginning of 2025 through July 2026.

The expansion of Israeli settlements and outposts has also intensified international criticism. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes the applicability of that legal position.

The issue has gained further international attention amid growing pressure on Israel over its settlement policies and proposals concerning land administration in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly characterised violent settlers as a small extremist minority, while authorities have arrested some individuals accused of attacks and discussed measures against unauthorised outposts.

For Palestinians in villages such as Al-Mughayyir, however, such measures have so far done little to ease their fears.

Parents now face a painful dilemma: continue sending their children to school and risk their safety, or keep them at home and allow escalating violence to disrupt their education and daily lives.