URIF: A rusty barbed wire fence towers above the students entering Urif high school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where spiralling violence since October 7 has struck fear into Palestinians.
“We tell the students ... to come to school together and not on their own, because we do not know when their (settlers) attack will be,” said Mazin Shehadeh, vice-principal for the high school located in a village south of the city of Nablus.
On the hill above the village sits the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, from where Palestinians say settlers descend to attack them.
“Every day when we arrive, we inspect the area around the school for fear that there might be explosive devices,” said the educator, whose office floor was charred black by what he said was an arson attack.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and now some 490,000 Israelis live across the Palestinian territory in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.
Palestinians have long faced harassment by settlers.
Recalling an attack on the school, one 15-year-old student said, “We were in class, and the settlers attacked us from the back of the school. They threw stones at the windows.”
“The (Israeli) soldiers were standing above, near the water tank, firing tear gas and stun grenades toward the school.”
Now the pupils fear an attack at any moment.
“At the slightest noise, at the slightest gunshot or at the slightest explosion near the town, we say to ourselves that the (Israeli) army or the settlers have attacked the school,” said Qais.
Since October 7, 519 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to the health ministry in Ramallah.
More checkpoints and other Israeli military installations have been erected since the start of the war, complicating the journey to school.
“Sometimes the army harasses us, sends us tear gas bombs and sound bombs and prevents us from going to school,” said a 12-year-old student.
The school year, which ended on Wednesday, turned into “a nightmare” for Palestinian students, the United Nation’s children’s agency UNICEF has said.
Some 27.5 percent of elementary school students do not feel safe at school, according to a study by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Between October 7 and May 7, 60 children were killed in the West Bank, 345 injured and 68 schools targeted by acts of vandalism, according to the Palestinian education ministry.
It said another 125 students have been detained by the Israeli military, who when asked by AFP about the arrests said they were part of their “counter-terrorism activities“
Last week, a 15-year-old boy was shot dead while evacuating from his school by bicycle during an Israeli military raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Even before the war, violence between communities in the West Bank near the school reached a record high.
In June 2023 two residents of Urif village, members of the armed group Hamas, killed four Israelis in an attack to the south.
In response, dozens of masked settlers could be seen in footage reviewed by AFP setting fire to a school and trees, and throwing stones at homes in the village.
In response to repeated attacks by settlers, school administrators in Urif said they had spent the equivalent of 62,500 euros on a tarpaulin to catch thrown stones and they have also installed barbed wire.
In the classrooms, thick purple curtains are drawn over barred windows, and staff run regular evacuation drills.
The violence and consequent fortifications have made students feel like they are trapped and “entering a prison,” said Shehadeh.
The school has had many of its “most hardworking and brilliant students” drop out, he added.
Others have left to help their parents, who have been without an income since Israel placed increased restrictions on Palestinians working in Israel.
Those pupils who remain only attend in-person classes three days a week and do the rest remotely due to the security concerns and the Palestinian Authority not paying teachers their full salaries.
However, not all students have the electronic devices or Internet connections needed to learn remotely, said Refat Sabbah, founder of the Teacher Creativity Center, a charity.
“In such a context, when students feel at risk at every moment, how can they learn? The psychological impact is huge on the students and the teachers,” he added.
Rising violence strikes fear into West Bank school
Rising violence strikes fear into West Bank school
Israel military official says ‘preparing response’ to Iran attack
“The IDF (Israeli military) is preparing a response to the unprecedented and unlawful Iranian attack on Israeli civilians and Israel,” the military official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
He did not elaborate on the nature or timing of the response.
Israel’s left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, quoting the military, reported that the military’s response will be “significant.”
“The IDF is preparing for a significant strike in Iran following this week’s missile attack from Tehran,” the newspaper reported.
“The military does not rule out the possibility that Iran may launch missiles at Israeli territory again after the Israeli attack,” it added.
On October 1, Iran launched around 200 missiles at Israel, its second direct attack on the country in less than six months.
Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s aerial defense system, while some hit military bases but did not cause major damage or casualties.
Iran said the missiles were launched to avenge the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike in the Lebanese capital on September 27.
Iran’s missile attack was also in response to the death of the former political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran on July 31.
Both Iran and Hamas blame Israel for Haniyeh’s killing. Israel has not commented on his death.
Iran FM renews call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefires on Syria visit
- Syria’s Assad says Iran’s attack on Israel taught it ‘lesson’
- Araghchi’s visit to Damascus is his first since he took office in August
DAMASCUS: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi renewed his call for ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon on Saturday as he held talks with his country’s Syrian ally.
“The most important issue today is the ceasefire, especially in Lebanon and in Gaza,” he told reporters.
“There are initiatives in this regard, there have been consultations that we hope will be successful.”
Syrian President Bashar Assad said Iran’s second-ever missile attack on Israel this week was a “lesson” for Israel.
The missile attack on Tuesday evening, just days after Israel killed the leader of Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, was “a strong response and taught the Zionist entity a lesson,” Assad was quoted as saying as Araghchi visited Damascus.
Araghchi’s visit to Damascus, his first since he took office in August, comes almost a year after Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel, triggering war in Gaza.
The conflict has also drawn in Iran’s Lebanese ally, Hezbollah and on September 23 Israel sharply intensified its campaign against the militant group.
“The purpose of my trip to Damascus is to continue consultations regarding the developments in the region,” Araghchi said.
His meetings in the Syrian capital follow a visit to Beirut Friday during which he voiced support for a truce in Lebanon acceptable to Hezbollah “simultaneously with a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Araghchi traveled to Damascus by air after Lebanon said an Israeli air strike on Friday severed the main international highway linking the two countries.
Israel said its strike was aimed at preventing the flow of weapons to Hezbollah from neighboring Syria.
Iran has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the civil war that erupted in 2011 following the suppression of anti-government protests.
Israel issues first Gaza evacuation warning in weeks
- The evacuation call is the first in weeks for Gaza as the Israeli military has largely shifted its focus to fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon
- Palestinians living in areas near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza have been warned to evacuate
GAZA: The Israeli army warned residents to evacuate part of central Gaza on Saturday, saying the military was preparing to use “great force” against Hamas fighters in the area.
The evacuation call is the first in weeks for Gaza as the Israeli military has largely shifted its focus to fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Hamas and the terrorist organizations continue their terrorist activities within your area and, as a result, the IDF (military) will act with great force against these elements,” the evacuation order posted by the Israeli army said, with an attached map listing the blocks to be evacuated.
Palestinians living in areas near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza have been warned to evacuate under the latest order posted on X.
Israel has destroyed large swathes of Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack last year, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly pledging to secure total victory over the militants.
A year later, the confirmed death toll from the Hamas attack — including hostages killed in captivity — has reached 1,205 on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants abducted 251 hostages during the attack, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military has said are dead.
In Gaza, nearly all of its 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once.
At least 41,825 people have been killed, most of them women or children, according to the territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged the figures as reliable.
The Israeli military has often returned to areas where it has previously conducted operations in response to reports of resurgent Hamas activity.
Emirates bans pagers, walkie-talkies onboard after Lebanon blasts
- mirates said that “such items found in passengers’ hand luggage or checked baggage will be confiscated by Dubai Police.”
Dubai: Dubai-based airline Emirates has banned pagers and walkie-talkies onboard its planes following sabotage attacks in Lebanon, and extended flight cancelations for Middle East destinations due to regional escalation.
“All Passengers traveling on flights to, from or via Dubai are prohibited from transporting pagers and walkie-talkies in checked or cabin baggage,” the carrier said, weeks after a wave of exploding communication devices used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which blamed Israel for the attacks.
In a statement posted on its website on Friday, Emirates said that “such items found in passengers’ hand luggage or checked baggage will be confiscated by Dubai Police.”
The blasts last month killed at least 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 across Lebanon.
Emirates, the Middle East’s biggest airline,also announced that its Iraq and Iran routes will remain suspended until Tuesday.
The cancelations were first announced in the wake of a major Iranian attack on Israel this week that saw missiles flying over Iraq and Iran.
Emirates said its flights to Jordan, which were also suspended, would resume on Sunday.
Flights to and from Lebanon will remain suspended until October 15, Emirates said, as Israel steps up attacks on the country, including parts of the capital near its only airport.
Several other carriers have also put some services to and from Beirut and other Middle East airports on hold.
Roadside bomb wounds four in Iraq’s Kirkuk
Baghdad: A roadside bomb wounded four people in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk on Saturday, police sources said.
The bomb targeted a commercial district in the city center. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Earlier in the week, four Iraqi soldiers were killed and three others injured in an ambush on an army convoy southwest of Kirkuk, which Daesh militants claimed responsibility for.
Despite the group’s defeat in 2017, remnants continue to conduct hit-and-run attacks against government forces.
