Israel restricting safe access to education for children in the occupied West Bank

Education is a fundamental human right for everyone, but in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, access to safe and quality education for almost 835,000 school aged children has been undermined, severely threatening their futures.

West Bank education restricted

Movement restrictions, forced displacement, school demolitions, violence. and harassment by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and Jewish colonial settlers are commonplace. So for many children, accessing education is a daily challenge. This story explores some of these difficulties.

Every morning, as the children go to school in the West Bank pic.twitter.com/DOFZ2OHNUr

— Johann Spischak (@SDGMasterglass) July 9, 2026

84 schools in the occupied West Bank remain under threat of demolition or subject to stop-work orders issued by “Israeli” authorities. This will affect around 13,000 children. At least 10 of these schools, serving 1000 students, are in the Masafer Yatta region, in the South Hebron Hills. These demolitions will deprive children of their education, a right under international law. They will also speed up the displacement of families from the area.

On 7 July, the occupation rejected an appeal against the demolition order targeting Al Rifaiyya School in Masafer Yatta. The school, which caters for 200 students, has now been given 14 days before demolition.

Khalil Hathaleen is head of the Village Council in Umm al Kheir, Masafer Yatta. He tells the Canary:

They claim the reason for the demolition is lack of a building permit, but they refuse these on the grounds that we live in a C rated area. In my village, Umm al Kheir, the settlers closed the road which the kids use to reach school. The school has now been closed for three months, with 55 students missing out on their right to education. This is an example of the settler violence we face on a daily basis.

Palestinian students from Umm al-Khair school protested the closure of the main road leading to their school after Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers blocked it with a fence in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

The closure prevented… pic.twitter.com/Uk44cCS6xb

— Palestine Info Center (@palinfoen) April 24, 2026

Schools demolished to prevent return

South of Nablus, violence by settlers backed by the IOF, emptied the village of Yanoun of its residents eight months ago. Now, these terrorists have demolished the village’s elementary school.

The demolition of the Yanoun Mixed Elementary School by settlers on Wednesday has intensified concerns over the future of the Palestinian village of Yanoun, east of Nablus, with local officials describing the incident as part of a broader effort to prevent displaced residents… pic.twitter.com/xguOTPsJCV

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) July 10, 2026

In Area C, 10 schools have been abandoned, following the displacement of the communities they once served. By 6 July, 2026, eight of these were vandalised by settlers and two had been demolished.

“Israel” forcibly expelled thousands of Palestinians from the Northern refugee camps, in early 2025, during Operation Iron Wall, destroying homes and infrastructure. No one has been allowed to return, and six UNRWA schools in Nur Shams and Jenin refugee camps remain inaccessible. Then, in May 2025, the occupation’s armed police forcibly closed UNRWA’s six schools in occupied East Jerusalem. These include three in Shuafat Refugee Camp and one in Silwan. All remain shut today.

Students in al Mughayyir, Northeast of Ramallah, suffer daily attacks. In April 2026 two Palestinians, including 13 year old Aws Hamdi Naasan, were shot dead at the boy’s school by illegal settler Schmuel Wendy

Waheed Abu Naim, an English teacher and the principal’s assistant at al Mughayyir boy’s school, tells the Canary violence is directed against pupils on a daily basis, but usually comes from the IOF. And when students leave school, soldiers follow them home, throw tear gas at them, and scare them. The Ministry of Education told the school to continue with online lessons. But Abu Naim says the school does not want this to happen.

We need a proper solution. They want to scare the students and make us leave our teaching, so they can close the school. Parents are scared more than the children, and are talking about not sending their children to school. But we encourage them to continue, as education is the only thing we have to fight against our enemy.

Illegal settlers targeting children

Hebron is unusual in that several small settlement clusters are to be found in the centre of this West Bank city. After the Oslo Agreement, Hebron was divided into H1 and H2. H2 is under the control of the occupation’s military and encompasses the Old City and the holy sites.

Around 700 illegal settlers live amongst 7000 Palestinians in part of H2, so the occupation imposes strict movement regulations on Palestinians in this area. Out of the 925 movement obstacles in the West Bank, more than 100 are in Hebron’s H2 area. 34 out of the 89 checkpoints are also in this area. Palestinians living in the Restricted Areas near these settlements face many difficulties, including accessing education.

Hebron Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) monitors checkpoints, maintains a protective presence, and documents human rights violations, especially in H2. Since 2002, it has also escorted Palestinian children and teachers through military checkpoints to school.

A CPT Hebron Team member, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Canary:

Since 7 October 2023, restrictions have intensified for Palestinians living in these areas, especially students. One of the restricted areas is Wadi al-Hussin, where Ziad Jaber School is located. Students living in this area must cross a checkpoint next to the school. They are often searched and sometimes detained by soldiers. There have also been multiple incidents where soldiers entered the school due to allegations of stone-throwing. Another restricted area is near the Ibrahimi Mosque, where two schools are located: Al-Ibrahimi School for boys and Al-Faihaa School for girls. Students must cross three checkpoints to reach these schools. The main checkpoint is Al-Salaimiya, known as Checkpoint 160.

According to the UN, movement restrictions since October 2023 have reduced school attendance in H2 by about 25 percent. Since July 2025, a new checkpoint at Yasser Amr girl’s secondary school in H2, has resulted in more than 100 students leaving the school. Initially a gate and two concrete blocks formed the checkpoint, but this later expanded to include caravans, an IOF cabin, and surveillance cameras pointing in all directions.

Parents in Tel Rumeida, a Restricted Area in Hebron, tell the Canary they fear for their child’s safety while on their way to attend school. This is not only because of likely harassment and intimidation from the IOF at checkpoints, but also the ever increasing possibility of settler violence.

Persistent danger

Yasser’s son, Abdulrahman, must cross a frequently closed military checkpoint to reach school, leaving him vulnerable to delays and attacks. This makes his father feel extremely anxious. And a mother tells us she worries for her daughter, who walks through isolated areas where settlers have previously attacked her. She often escorts her and checks on her during the school day. Both parents describe a persistent sense of danger affecting their children’s daily routines and well-being.

West Bank children traumatised

For many years, children attending schools in the H2 area of Hebron near Israeli occupation settlements have experienced intimidation, threats and violence. According to CPT, the daily harassment, access delays, school closures, and invasive security measures by “Israel” disrupt learning and create fear. This affects academic achievements and psychological wellbeing, and leads to less children registering to attend these schools.

Some of the occupation’s systematic violations documented by CPT at these schools include:

• A female settler entered al- Ibrahimi School under military protection, and attempted to identify and detain students. She then waited at the school gate. Students had to be protected, some changed clothing for safety.
• During morning assembly, drones hovered over Ziad Jaber school, causing fear, anxiety, and disturbance among students.
• On the first day of exams at both Qurtoba School and al Faihaa School, students were physically and verbally assaulted by settlers.

The above are not isolated incidents, but an integral part of life for schoolchildren in Hebron’s H2 area.

UNICEF’s global spokesperson, James Elder, warns the impact of recurring, targeted attacks on education “follows children out of the classroom.”

If these children are Palestinian, the consequences are measured not only in lost lessons, but in the lasting psychological toll of growing up where schools, teachers, and classmates are never beyond the reach of violence.

Featured images via Hebron Community Peacemaker Teams