Umm al-Khair, Palestinian Territories — On April 13, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at a group of Palestinian schoolkids staging a sit-in in the occupied West Bank. The protest started after Israeli settlers put up a barbed wire fence that blocked the children from getting to their school.

The Israeli military told AFP they broke up what they described as an “unusual gathering,” but wouldn’t say directly if their troops fired tear gas on the kids. This all happened on the first day back at school since the war with Iran broke out.

Umm al-Khair is a tiny village deep in southern Masafer Yatta. April 13 was supposed to be the first day of classes after a long 40-day break. Schools had closed back on February 28 when violence flared up.

But that morning, when the kids showed up, they found the road to school blocked by settlers. Frustrated but stubborn, the children and local residents sat beside the barbed wire, trying to hold an open-air class in protest. Then the soldiers arrived. Suddenly, tear gas canisters flew and chaos broke out—kids running, crying, dust everywhere.

Twelve-year-old Sarah al-Hathaleen said, “We were sitting and they threw a grenade at us. I got scared and started screaming and ran away. I started crying. A woman hugged me and stayed with me. We were very scared.”

Bassam Jabr, the local director of education, confirmed the protest and said settlers from the nearby Carmel settlement had blocked the road on purpose. “They’re squeezing us in every way,” he said. “This is how they do it—keep our kids from school and keep on expanding their settlement.”

Jabr said the protests won’t stop. “Sadly, we don’t have any solutions. We’ll keep coming back, today and tomorrow, until our students get back to class.”

The Israeli military said its forces went to Umm al-Khair after hearing about the gathering, and that they dispersed the crowd without anyone getting hurt. They didn’t comment on the footage showing tear gas canisters.

AFP’s video footage leaves no room for doubt—you see the canisters flying, hear the kids screaming, watch everyone scatter in panic.

Eleven-year-old Rashid al-Hathaleen put it simply: “Last night we were excited for school today. The Israelis came and closed the road with barbed wire… we just want to be back in school.”

Masafer Yatta is now known for settler violence and home demolitions against Palestinians. In Umm al-Khair, a Palestinian activist named Awdah Hathaleen was killed by a settler last August. Since the war with Iran began, attacks like these have only gotten worse across the West Bank.

Today, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements across the West Bank, alongside about three million Palestinians. These settlements break international law, but Israel has controlled the West Bank since 1967.w