From the Liveblog of
Thursday, April 16, 2026
Settlers block Palestinian pupils’ path to West Bank school with barbed wire
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleDozens of Palestinian children have been unable to go to school in the West Bank this week because of barbed wire erected by Jewish settlers across the path they normally use.
Dozens of children tried on Monday to get to school in the small village of Umm al-Khair near the city of Hebron for the first time since the US-Israeli war with Iran began. They found their way blocked by barbed wire that villagers said had been placed there by Israelis from the nearby Carmel settlement.
Khalil Hathaleen, head of the Umm al-Khair village council, said the barbed wire prevented children from the outskirts of the village taking their usual safe path through a valley to the school in the village center.
Otherwise, he said, the children would have to walk along a road he described as dangerous, because it passes closer to the settlement.
“We insist on using the main path that our children have always taken,” he said, accusing settlers of trying to take over the land so that they can expand their settlement.
TODAY: Children from Khirbet Umm al-Khair, a village in Masafer Yatta, in the southern West Bank, protest together with other residents after settlers blocked the only road leading to their school Sunday night, placing razor sharp wire fencing, jeopardizing the children’s safety. pic.twitter.com/Zlcy2ZfnZl
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) April 16, 2026
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem says the barbed wire is part of a coordinated campaign by settlers and the Israeli military to intimidate Palestinians and drive them from their land in the West Bank, which it said amounts to “ethnic cleansing.”
A video that a Palestinian activist said he had filmed on April 13, and verified by Reuters, shows boys and girls sitting and standing by the newly erected barbed wire fence.
Dozens of Palestinian children have been unable to go to school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank this week because of a barbed-wire fence villagers say was put up by Jewish settlers across the path they normally use https://t.co/Jiz5eDlsDu pic.twitter.com/azRFR100AY
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 16, 2026
Residents said Israeli soldiers had later fired teargas, causing several children to experience breathing difficulties. Some residents described the children’s symptoms as if they were suffocating. In the video, smoke can be seen rising.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday that soldiers had used “riot dispersal means” against several adult Palestinians who it said had tried to reach the security perimeter of the Carmel settlement. The military acknowledged that children were present but said they were not targeted.
The Times of Israel Community.