Israeli settlers kill two Palestinians, including student, in Ramallah school attack
Israeli settlers shot dead two Palestinians, including a teenage student, during an attack on a school in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
The victims were identified as Aws Hamdi al-Nassan and Jihad Marzouq Abu Naiem. They were respectively aged 14 and 32, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The attack took place at a school in the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah. At least four other Palestinians, including three students, were wounded by gunfire, medics said.
Shortly before the attack, the Al-Baidar human rights organisation said settlers dressed in uniforms resembling those of the Israeli army had attempted to expel farmers from land south of al-Mughayyir.
The organisation said the settlers entered agricultural land and tried to prevent farmers from working it, heightening tensions in the area.
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Eyewitness accounts speaking to Middle East Eye noted that the settlers were protected by Israeli infantry soldiers who accompanied them up the hill before they attacked the school and its students, attempting to storm it.
When the villagers attempted to stop them, the settlers began firing live ammunition.
Bilal Abu Aliya, a resident of the village and an eyewitness at the scene, confirmed to MEE that settlers wearing military uniforms opened fire directly on the school and its students, without any justification.
Israeli settlers opened fire on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of al-Mughayyir, killing two Palestinians, including a 13-year-old child, and injuring several others.
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 21, 2026
Settler violence in the occupied West Bank has risen sharply since the start of Israel’s genocide… pic.twitter.com/gC2NGhKF0f
Hamed Abu Naim, who lives near the school, said the situation escalated rapidly. He and Jihad, one of those killed, had been working in a nearby village when the attack began.
“When I returned, the situation was dire. I found the boy, Aws, covered in blood in the schoolyard, along with other injured people,” he said.
As they tried to reach family members trapped inside, one of the settlers shot Jihad in the head.
Scenes of panic followed as residents attempted to evacuate the wounded under heavy gunfire.
'The shooting didn’t stop for a moment. It was war in every sense of the word'
- Hamed Abu Naim, eyewitness
"The scene was tragic. More than 500 students were terrified by the intense gunfire, and their parents were trying to rescue them and get them out of the school," Hamed told MEE.
"The shooting didn’t stop for a moment. It was war in every sense of the word."
According to Nassan’s uncle, Faraj, the attack lasted only minutes but was “extremely violent”.
He said the assault appeared premeditated, aimed at “inflicting as many casualties as possible”.
“Aws now joins his father,” he said, referring to the killing of Nassan’s father in a similar attack in 2019.
"He was a young child at the time and said goodbye to his father with much sadness, without any fault of his own, and today he is killed in the same way."
Intensifying settler violence
Haniya Nazzal, director of education for the northern and eastern Ramallah districts, said the area has seen a surge in settler violence.
She said the students have nothing "but notebooks and pens" when they were attacked.
"The Israeli occupation killed [Nassan's] innocence, and the schoolyard was drenched in his blood," she told MEE.
The attack comes amid a sharp rise in daily settler violence across the occupied West Bank.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, settlers - under the protection of the Israeli army - detained a truck in the Khirbet Samra area of the northern Jordan Valley.
The vehicle was stopped while passing through the area and prevented from continuing, disrupting transport.
Israeli forces also demolished the al-Maleh primary school in the northern Jordan Valley on Tuesday.
"This attack is not new to our village," Abu Aliya said, adding that settlers are attempting to target residents and drive them away from their homes.
"But we will not abandon our village, and we will always defend it."
Settler violence, while longstanding, has intensified sharply since October 2023, including the increased use of live fire and the systematic forced displacement of Palestinian nomad communities.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said settlers carried out 497 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank in March, resulting in nine deaths.
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