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Israel occupation forces target Palestinian students with tear gas, stun grenades

October 24, 2024 at 4:18 pm

A woman and two school girls attempt to flee from tear gas fired by Israeli forces in the West Bank on 17 November 2019 [HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty Images]

Israeli forces attacked Palestinian school students yesterday in the occupied West Bank. The attack took place in Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, Wafa has reported.

According to local sources, Israeli forces raided the town, firing live ammunition into the air and launching tear gas canisters and stun grenades at students as they were leaving their schools. While no injuries were reported, the attack caused widespread panic among the students, with some being chased by the soldiers. The school complex is located near the colonial road and the apartheid wall, placing it in a particularly tense area.

These incidents have become disturbingly frequent since the start of the school year, with Palestinian students facing harassment by Israeli soldiers and settlers as they leave the school grounds.

Moreover, over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war against the Palestinians in Gaza on 7 October, 2023. Palestinians have also been attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.

At least 760 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank alone since October last year, and over 6,250 others have been wounded by Israeli army fire, according to the Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

The escalation follows a landmark opinion in July by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land is illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as the payment of reparations to the Palestinian people.

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