Israeli settlers block Palestinian children from school in the West Bank

At least 55 Palestinian children have been prevented from attending school for the past 10 school days after Israeli settlers erected a barbed-wire fence blocking the route to their classrooms in the occupied West Bank, according to Save the Children.

Students, teachers and families in Umm al-Khair, in the Hebron governorate, have staged daily peaceful sit-ins at the site of the fence, turning the area beside it into an informal outdoor classroom as they protest the closure.
Some of the children were reportedly exposed to tear gas during the demonstrations, according to the West Bank Education Cluster.

The pupils had been due to return to class for the first time in more than 40 days this month after schools across the West Bank were shut after the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28. But with the road still blocked, children in the village have now been unable to attend school for nearly two months.

The community’s struggle was featured in the 2024 Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, but international attention has done little to halt violence or land seizures in the area. Residents say the settlers responsible for erecting the fence are from a nearby outpost that was established days after Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen was killed on July 28, 2025, by Israeli settler Yinon Levi.
Save the Children said it works in Umm al-Khair directly and through its partner, the Agricultural Development Association (PARC), providing essential supplies and livelihood support, including winter kits and animal feed.

Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said the blockade represented “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 the West Bank,” he said.