https://thecradle.co/articles/settler-mob-attacks-west-bank-elementary-school-under-army-protection
Settler mob attacks West Bank elementary school under army protection
Students and staff members were assaulted by crowbar-wielding settlers at a school northwest of Jericho
Israeli settlers, under the protection of the army, launched a violent attack on a school near the occupied West Bank city of Jericho on 16 September.
Troops and settlers stormed the Arab al-Kaabneh Elementary School in the Arab al-Mleihat area northwest of Jericho.
“Armed Israelis attacked the [area], beat an elderly man, stormed the elementary school and assaulted students and teachers … there is a state of panic and fear among local residents, especially women and children,” WAFA news agency reported, citing local sources as saying that “the school is still under siege and the students are being abused inside.”
Israeli forces arrested teachers as more settlers arrived at the scene. Students and staff were assaulted with crowbars.
Video footage shows people being taken away in handcuffs as settlers sit nearby. Other footage showed the settlers entering the school with bats and crowbars, as people could be heard screaming in fear. A man filming the attack is seen being hit on his back by a settler with a crowbar.
The school principal was tied up, the Al-Baidar Organization for Bedouin Rights said in a statement.
Four injured were transferred to the nearby hospital for treatment, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said in a statement.
The assault on the school comes as the occupied West Bank is still being subjected to a wide-scale Israeli military operation, which began on 28 August.
Israeli forces stormed Jericho’s Aqabat Jabr refugee camp and detained four Palestinians on 16 September. At least 20 others were detained by Israeli forces across the West Bank on Monday.
Clashes between the Israeli army and the Palestinian resistance are ongoing in several West Bank cities, including Nablus and Bethlehem.
Israeli forces stormed Bethlehem’s Dheisheh camp on Monday. At least one has been injured by Israeli army bullets.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli operation, dubbed “Camps of Summer,” began.
Around 700 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since 7 October.