Israel forces assault staff member after storming Palestinian school

Israeli occupation forces assaulted a Palestinian staff member yesterday after storming Al-Maleh School in Wadi Al-Maleh village, located in the northern Jordan Valley.

According to Azmi Balawneh, Director of Education, the raid occurred after the school day had ended. Israeli soldiers forced the janitor to open the school gate, removed the Palestinian flag and then proceeded to violently attack him.

The injured worker was later transported to Tubas Turkish Governmental Hospital for medical care.

Local Palestinian rights activist, Aref Daraghmeh, added that the Israeli forces extended their military operation to the surrounding Al-Maleh area, conducting home searches and inspecting residents’ identification cards.

These incidents have become disturbingly frequent since the start of the school year, with Palestinian students facing harassment by Israeli soldiers and settlers as they leave the school grounds.

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Moreover, over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war against the Palestinians in Gaza on 7 October, 2023. Palestinians have also been attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.

Occupation forces have escalated their repressive practices against Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, including through the demolition of homes and schools, stopping construction and preventing Palestinians and shepherds from accessing their land.

At least 781 Palestinians have since been killed and over 6,300 injured by Israeli army fire in the Occupied Territory, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The escalation follows a landmark opinion in July by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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