RAMALLAH, West Bank – Escalating Israeli military raids have imposed strict lockdowns on Palestinian communities in the northern West Bank, confining residents indoors and stripping hundreds of children of their right to education and essential humanitarian aid. On November 28, 2025, Save the Children announced the suspension of its remedial education programs, child protection initiatives, and mental health support in affected areas, impacting more than 700 children who now lack access to critical services. The operations, centered in the Tubas governorate and extending to Jenin and Tulkarm, have blocked roads with checkpoints, raided homes, and restricted movement, creating an atmosphere of fear that has halted normal life.

Local accounts describe families barricaded inside as soldiers conduct house-to-house searches, with ambulances barred from entering and gunfire echoing through neighborhoods. “This is a systematic assault by Israeli forces, a continuation of collective punishment policies that target entire communities,” said Ameer, a project coordinator for a Save the Children partner organization in Tubas, where raids began on November 26. Over 160 Palestinians have been detained since the operations intensified, and dozens injured, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. The Israeli military has framed the actions as anti-terrorism efforts against armed groups, but humanitarian groups decry them as disproportionate, exacerbating an already dire situation.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that between October 7, 2023, and November 11, 2025, at least 995 Palestinians— including 219 children—have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In 2025 alone, one in five fatalities has been a child, the highest rate in two decades. More than 12,000 Palestinian refugee children remain displaced from camps in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams, unable to return due to demolitions and ongoing violence. Education has been particularly ravaged: The Education Cluster documented over 90 incidents disrupting learning for 12,000 students between July and September 2025, with more than 2,000 such disruptions in the 2024-2025 academic year affecting 84,000 students across 541 schools, mainly in the north.

Schools in raided areas have resorted to remote learning, but poor internet access, power outages, and trauma render it ineffective. “Every child in these areas is being denied the right to an education,” emphasized Ahmed Alhendawi, Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. “While global focus stays on Gaza, the West Bank’s child rights violations— from killings and detentions to education shutdowns—cannot be overlooked. Safety and learning are basic rights now under siege.” Over 900 Palestinian minors have been arrested in the West Bank this year, many during similar raids, heightening risks of abuse and long-term psychological harm.

These lockdowns compound economic woes, preventing parents from working or accessing food and medical supplies, while settler attacks—over 260 in October 2025 alone—further vandalize schools and farmlands. Save the Children, active in the region since 1953, calls for urgent international action to de-escalate and protect children’s access to education. “The future of thousands hangs in the balance,” Alhendawi added. As operations drag into their third day with no end in sight, families huddle in darkness, their children’s schoolbooks gathering dust amid the uncertainty.