UPDATE – Illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinian school in occupied West Bank

UPDATES WITH DETAILS

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Illegal Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian school on Monday in the Mu'arrajat area, northwest of the West Bank city of Jericho, according to a local activist.

Students and teachers were assaulted by illegal settlers during the attack on the Arab al-Ka'abneh Primary School, injuring several people and besieging the school premises, Hassan Mleihat of the non-governmental Al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights said in a statement.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said seven people were injured and hospitalized after the attack.

Witnesses said two people, including the school principal, were arrested by Israeli forces on accusations of attacking the settlers. The other detainee was an Israeli peace activist.

The Palestinian Education Ministry denounced the settler attack, accusing the Israeli army and settlers of disrupting education and terrorizing Palestinian children.

It called the attack a “recurring violation that reveals the ugly face of the Israeli occupation and its disregard for children's rights."

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank amid Israel’s devastating military offensive on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,200 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7 last year.

At least 704 people, including 159 children, have since been killed and more than 5,700 injured by Israeli fire in the West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation followed a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice on July 19, which declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio