By Nuha Sharaf and Yosri Al-Jamal
JERUSALEM, April 16 (Reuters) - Dozens of Palestinian children have been unable to go to school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank this week because of barbed wire erected by Jewish settlers across the path they normally use.
Dozens of children tried on Monday to get to school in the small village of Umm al-Khair near the city of Hebron for the first time since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began. They found their way blocked by barbed wire which villagers said had
been placed there by Israelis from the nearby Carmel settlement.
Khalil Hathaleen, head of the Umm al-Khair village council, said the barbed wire prevented children from the outskirts of the village taking their usual safe path through a valley to the school in the village centre.
Otherwise, he said, the children would have to walk along a road which he described as dangerous, because it passes closer to the settlement.
"We insist on using the main path that our children have always taken," he said, accusing Jewish settlers of trying to take over the land so that they can expand their settlement.
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said the barbed wire was part of a coordinated campaign by settlers and the Israeli military to intimidate Palestinians and drive them from their land in the West Bank, which it said amounted to "ethnic cleansing".
A video which a Palestinian activist said he had filmed on April 13, and verified by Reuters, shows boys and girls sitting and standing by the newly erected barbed wire fence.
Residents said Israeli soldiers had later fired teargas, causing several children to experience breathing difficulties. Some residents described the children's symptoms as if they were suffocating. In the video, smoke can be seen rising.
Classes had been suspended at the start of the Iran war, during which debris from Iranian missiles intercepted by Israel has at times fallen on the West Bank.
MOUNTING RESTRICTIONS ON PALESTINIANS IN WEST BANK
In a statement, the Israeli military said on Monday that soldiers had used "riot dispersal means" against several adult Palestinians who it said had tried to reach the security perimeter of the Carmel settlement. The military acknowledged that children were present but said they were not targeted.
The Yesha Council, a body that represents West Bank settlers, told Reuters that "a barrier was put in place to protect the residents of Carmel, in coordination with Israeli security authorities" after repeated attempted incursions into Carmel. It said there were other routes that could be used.
Local Palestinians said they have filed a complaint through an Israeli-Palestinian office about the barbed wire fence, which stands near Israeli flags, but that it had not been removed.
Palestinians have faced mounting restrictions on their movement in the West Bank since the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel which the militant group Hamas launched from Gaza and which led to the Gaza war.
The Israeli military has erected dozens of new checkpoints across the West Bank and established permanent and temporary roadblocks.
Around 700,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, among some 2.7 million Palestinians.
The expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank has surged under the current Israeli government, the most right-wing in the country's history, and many senior ministers openly advocate for the annexation of the West Bank.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are deemed illegal by the United Nations and much of the international community. Palestinians hope the West Bank will be part of a future state.
Violence by Jewish settlers, including attacks on Palestinian property, has also been on the rise. This has drawn criticism from some of Israel's allies, while Israeli officials say a "fringe minority" is responsible. Palestinians have also carried out attacks on settlers and soldiers in the West Bank.
(Reporting by Nuha Sharaf in Jerusalem and Yosri Al-Jamal in the West Bank, Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
