Parents in al-Mughayyir Fear Their Children’s Lives as Settler Violence Spikes

Tue Sep 08 2026 00:28:20 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

In the village of al-Mughayyir schools amid rising settler attacks, parents and teachers fear for their children's safety.

At the start of a new school year, the headteacher and local teachers of al‑Mughayyir boys school report increasing fear as settler attacks rise. Six people, including three pupils, have been killed in the village this year, with a 14‑year‑old student shot outside school gates. Soldiers and settlers fire on the campus, while parents volunteer to stand outside the gates to protect children. The rise in attacks reflects a broader pattern across the West Bank, where illegal outposts and settlement expansion intensify pressure on Palestinian families.

Parents in al‑Mughayyir Fear For Children’s Lives Amid Rising Settler Attacks

The first day of the new school year dawned early for the head‑teacher of al‑Mughayyir boys school, who had to walk past freshly installed barbed‑wire fencing and reinforced gates as sunrise painted olive trees that loom over the village in the occupied West Bank.

"We are scared," Bassam al‑Assaf told reporters. "The students are afraid, and their parents are afraid." Six people, including three pupils, have been killed in al‑Mughayyir this year as settler‑related violence has surged. The most recent victim, 14‑year‑old Aws al‑Naasan, was shot dead outside the school gates in April.

English teacher Waheed Abu Naem recounted how, while trying to move pupils to safety inside the school gate, a settler fired. Mobile‑phone footage shows the moment the gunshot struck Aws. The teacher described the aftermath, describing blood from the victim’s nose and mouth and a bullet in his head.

Since the summer, two more pupils were shot dead, and a 19‑year‑old leaving the school was also killed. In all cases Israel’s army said it was responding to “instigators of a violent riot.”

The school is located on the edge of al‑Mughayyir, an isolated village north‑east of Ramallah, surrounded increasingly by Jewish settler outposts. Israeli forces regularly set up ad‑hoc checkpoints at the entrance.

In response, Bassam al‑Assaf installed a long barbed‑wire fence and reinforced the school gates. Ambulance crews now patrol the road outside, and several parents stand all day outside to create an extra layer of protection.

"I came because it makes the children feel their parents are with them, that they are safe, it gives them a kind of security," said Haroon Bishara, whose boys are in the first and second grades. He added that the fear is mixed with a determination not to let threat force them out.

While the school viewed the occasional settlers driving sheep near the fields as everyday activity, the current wave of attacks shows that settlers are now deliberately targeting children to pressure families to leave. The UN Commission of Inquiry (June 2026) has described a pattern of intentional targeting of Palestinian children in everyday spaces.

The UN reports rising injury rates, increasing to an average of three per day in 2026, alongside an expansion of settlements. International pressure mounts—Britain plans sanctions and aims to push back on settlement expansion, while Israel’s government pushes land registration in the West Bank.

Al‑Mughayyir’s experience reflects a broader trend: illegal outposts are erected, soldiers protect settlers, attacks move from farms to built‑up areas, and children face growing risk. Parents who stay see their children’s lives hanging in the balance.