Israeli forces fire tear gas at Palestinian students, teachers in West Bank as occupiers block roads

Dozens of Palestinian students and teachers suffered suffocation from Israeli tear gas on Monday, as occupiers blocked several roads in the latest escalation in the occupied West Bank. In the village of Al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters toward a school, leaving dozens of students and teachers suffering from suffocation, village council head Amin Abu Aliya told Anadolu. Medical teams treated those affected at the scene, while Palestinian Civil Defense crews worked to clear tear gas from classrooms, he said.

The village has been subjected to repeated attacks by Israeli forces and occupiers in recent weeks, Abu Aliya said. Separately, Israeli occupiers blocked several roads used by Palestinian vehicles in the northern Salfit governorate, according to local sources. The occupiers closed a road near the towns of Haris and Kifl Haris, as well as the Wadi Qana road linking Salfit and Qalqilya governorates, and set tires on fire along a main road, they said.

Israeli occupiers also used stones to block a road leading to Al-Zaytoonah University of Science and Technology in the Wadi al-Shaer area, disrupting traffic. Meanwhile, occupiers stole around 90 goats in the Salhab area of the northern Jordan Valley, according to Mutaz Bisharat, an official responsible for monitoring settlement building in Tubas and the Jordan Valley. “The theft came amid an increase in attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinians and their property across the West Bank,” Bisharat said.

Earlier Monday, the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said Israeli occupiers carried out 1,369 attacks across the West Bank in October, up 111.6% from 647 in September. The commission said the Israeli army and occupiers carried out a combined 3,133 attacks last month, a 52.8% increase from the previous month. Israeli forces were responsible for 1,764 of the attacks. Nearly 750,000 Israeli occupiers live in 156 illegal settlements and around 360 outposts across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian figures.

In June, 14 UN special rapporteurs warned that the sharp rise in violence by Israeli occupiers, with state support and complicity, posed an existential threat to Palestinian communities. Arrests In another development, the Israeli army arrested six Palestinians during raids in Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office. In Nablus, Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian from the town of Tell and rearrested journalist Samer Khuwaira after raiding his home in Nablus city.

Khuwaira had previously been detained on April 10, 2025, and placed under administrative detention without charge later that month. He spent about nine months in Israeli prisons before being released on Jan. 7, 2026. In Ramallah, Israeli forces arrested two young men during a raid on Kobar village and another Palestinian from Al-Amari refugee camp. Another Palestinian was arrested after Israeli forces raided his home in Dura, south of Hebron.

Israeli military operations and occupier attacks have intensified across the West Bank since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023. More than 1,220 Palestinians have been killed and around 13,350 wounded in the West Bank during that period, while more than 26,000 have been arrested, according to Palestinian figures.