Palestinian schoolboy among two killed by Israeli settlers, amid spate of attacks on education in the West Bank

By Zeena Saifi, CNN

(CNN) — Two Palestinians, among them a 14-year-old boy, have been shot and killed at a school in the occupied West Bank amid an attack by Israeli settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry and multiple eyewitnesses said.

A video from the scene shows a man in military fatigues armed with a rifle advancing slowly on the village of Al-Mughayyir before crouching and firing at least eight rounds toward the school. Activists said the man was a known settler who has attacked the village in the past.

Residents say Al-Mughayyir is targeted by settler attacks on a near-daily basis.

The Health Ministry named the two Palestinians killed as Aws Al-Naasan, 14, and Jihad Abu Naim, 32, a parent at the school.

The killings are among a spate of attacks on Palestinian schools or schoolchildren in the West Bank in recent days, which have seen a school building razed to the ground and, in a separate incident, settlers putting up razor wire to block children as young as five from getting to school.

Students in schoolyard as gunfire starts

Bassam Abu-Assaf, the principal of the all-boys school that came under fire, said at least five armed settlers had approached the village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, around noon. Some of the students were outside in the schoolyard when the gunfire began, he added.

The Israeli military claimed the incident had started after rocks were thrown at a vehicle carrying several Israeli passengers, including a reserve soldier, whom the military said, “exited the vehicle and opened fire at suspects in the area.”

The military said it had deployed soldiers to the scene and was “aware of the claim” that two Palestinians were killed and others injured, saying “the incident is under review.”

Video obtained by CNN shows the moment 14-year-old Aws, who was in ninth grade, was shot and killed. His friends can be seen rushing to him and carrying his body away.

The second Palestinian killed, Abu Naim, was a parent at the school who lived nearby. He rushed to the school when he heard the gunshots, and was then shot himself, Abu-Assaf, the school principal said.

“It was a disaster. Everybody was screaming. It was unbelievable. I’m still processing it. I don’t know how long it will take for the teachers and students to overcome the shock,” he said, adding that four others were injured, including students and parents.

Videos from in front of the school show the streets splattered with blood, gunshots sounding in the distance, and a flurry of men — young and old — frantically running around and calling for help. Injured boys and men, one with an exposed and bloodied torso, are seen being carried away.

The fatal shooting is the latest in a surge of increasingly brazen and violent attacks against Palestinians, waged by Israeli settlers and, at times, by soldiers as well. While the Israeli military frequently says it is investigating such incidents, it often fails to make any arrests or hold perpetrators accountable.

School bulldozed

In a separate incident, activists say settlers bulldozed a school in Hammamat al-Maleh in the northern Jordan Valley Monday evening, near the village of Tayasir, where a CNN team was detained and assaulted by soldiers last month.

The area has been targeted by settlers in recent months, forcing its Palestinian inhabitants there off the land, local activists told CNN.

Activists say the settlers are from the same group responsible for building an illegal outpost nearby and using it as a base from which to launch attacks on Palestinians.

Even though the school was within sight of an Israeli military base, soldiers there made no attempt to prevent the demolition, the activists added.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

“It is important to emphasize that the destruction of the school in Hammamat ius part of a systematic, serious and ongoing violation of the ability of Palestinian girls and boys to exercise their basic right to education,” the Jordan Valley activist group said in a statement.

Razor wire blocks the way to school

In a third incident also targeting schoolchildren, settlers from the Karmiel settlement have set up razor wire near the village of Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills, blocking young students’ route to school, according to community leader Khaleel Alhathaleen

“This road is the main artery upon which the village’s students depend, making its closure a clear violation of their freedom of movement and a direct impediment to the educational process,” Alhathaleen said in a statement.

When settlers blocked the road last Monday, video sent to CNN by the community showed Israeli soldiers standing at the top of the hill – with what appeared to be tear gas blowing around them – surrounding more than two dozen children.

Alhathaleen says children have been protesting near the road every day since the wire went up. Photos sent to CNN show them holding pieces of paper bearing slogans like, ‘we miss our school’, ‘protect us’ and ‘let kids learn.’

Umm Al-Khair has been subjected to repeated settler attacks and land grabs by settlers. Prominent Palestinian activist, Awdah Alhathaleen, who worked on the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was shot dead during a settler attack last year.

The man accused of his death, Yonin Levi, was placed under three days of house arrest, and later released by an Israeli court.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.