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.

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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.

The erection of the fence comes amid growing concerns over intensified Israeli settlement expansion and rising settler attacks across the occupied West Bank. Israeli settlements and outposts built on occupied Palestinian land are considered illegal under international law.

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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.

“No child should be denied the right to education, too scared to walk to school or be faced with violence while travelling to school.”

He said students and teachers across the occupied Palestinian territory had been killed, wounded, arrested and detained, while children in Gaza were now in their third year without regular schooling. “We’re at risk of seeing a lost generation emerge,” he said. “They need to get back to the classroom not only for their own individual development, but for the future of Palestinian society.”

The situation for children in the West Bank has worsened in 2026, aid groups say, citing intensified military operations, growing movement restrictions and increased settler violence. Children have reported harassment and attacks while travelling to school.

This week, two children were killed by Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

In Hebron, 16-year-old Mohammad Majdi al-Jaabari was killed after being struck by a vehicle belonging to a security convoy escorting an Israeli minister near the Kiryat Arba settlement.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa said the teenager had been cycling to school shortly after dawn when he was run over. Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted a security source as saying the convoy was travelling to provide security for Israeli Settlement Minister Orit Strock, who lives in a settlement in Hebron.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 1,100 Palestinians, including more than 230 children, have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, 2023.