Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian teenagers in the village of al-Mughayyir, and troops razed an entire village outside Hebron, marking an escalation in settler violence and forced displacement across the occupied West Bank, according to residents, activists, and rights groups.
The victims were identified as Khalil Abu Alia, 16, who was about to begin 11th grade at al-Mughayyir boys school, and Omar al-Nassan, 19, who had graduated from the same school with top marks this summer. Both were killed shortly after sunset, when a group of settlers entered the village under police and military escort to seize dozens of sheep from a Palestinian home, residents and Israeli activists said.
Snipers on rooftops kill teenagers
Snipers took up positions on rooftops, and one shot Abu Alia in the neck, according to his English teacher, Waheed Abu Naim, in a phone interview. The boy was on the doorstep of his home when he was targeted. Al-Nassan was shot twice, the second time in the back, residents and activists said. Both died before reaching the hospital.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military said police, army, and settlers entered the village to take sheep claimed by settlers from a Palestinian home. The spokesperson provided no evidence of ownership, theft, or investigation into stolen goods. When Palestinians resisted the seizure by throwing stones and cinder blocks, the troops fired, the spokesperson said: “The forces responded by firing at key instigators in order to remove the threat. Hits were identified.”
Abu Alia was killed by a soldier, but it was not clear whether al-Nassan was shot by a soldier or a settler. The killings bring the number of students from the school’s 470-strong student body killed by Israeli forces or settlers this year to five. Earlier victims include a 17-year-old player from the Palestinian youth football team shot in June, a 14-year-old gunned down at the school gate in April, and another 14-year-old killed outside the village mosque in January.
School prepares for new semester under siege
Abu Naim, who taught all five boys, said many more of his students had been injured by Israeli attacks, and his brother was also killed by settlers in April. “We don’t know how long these crimes are going to continue,” he said. “This week we are making extra security preparations for the new semester which starts in three days.” The school has built a higher wall topped by a fence and strengthened gates, and is making contingency plans because the village has been under tightening siege for two weeks.
Since late 2023, Israeli barricades have blocked all but one road into al-Mughayyir, and at least eight settler outposts surround it. In late August, soldiers and settlers began closing the sole remaining lifeline for hours at a time, setting up a temporary checkpoint near the school in the morning and evening. At least eight families have fled in the last week because they were unable to commute to work, renting flats elsewhere, Abu Naim said. The school has 26 teachers but only nine live in the village, and they fear the other two-thirds may not be allowed to reach their classrooms on Monday.
Village razed in South Hebron Hills
In the South Hebron Hills, Israeli forces spent the day razing the homes of 12 Palestinian families in the community of Khirbet a-Taban, leaving all 70 residents homeless, including 28 children. Troops demolished all buildings, water cisterns, storage, livestock pens, and caves, according to the Israeli-Palestinian rights group B’Tselem.
B’Tselem said it is the 66th Palestinian community wiped off the map since October 2023, with 18 others partly displaced, forcing nearly 5,000 people from their homes, almost half of them children. “Israel is continuing to erase Palestinian communities at an accelerating pace as part of the ethnic cleansing it is carrying out in the West Bank,” said Yuli Novak, B’Tselem’s executive director. “The world continues to stand by as Palestinians and their lives are left completely exposed to Israeli violence.”
A spokesperson for Cogat, the Israeli military agency managing civilian affairs in occupied Palestine, said troops were carrying out “enforcement activity” against illegal construction in a military training zone. In 1981, Israel designated the Masafer Yatta area, including Khirbet a-Taban, as Firing Zone 918 and has worked since to push out the roughly 1,200 remaining Palestinian residents, who have fought expulsion in Israeli courts for decades. Meanwhile, 11 illegal settler outposts inside the firing zone, housing some of the most notoriously violent settlers, have not been targeted for removal, according to the report.
