ISTANBUL

Illegal Israeli settlers stormed a school early Monday in the northern West Bank, removed the Palestinian flag and sprayed racist graffiti on the walls, according to local sources.

The sources told Anadolu that illegal settlers raided the Hawara Secondary School for Boys, south of Nablus, lowered the Palestinian flag and raised the Israeli flag on the school’s pole.

The attackers also wrote racist slogans in Hebrew on the school walls, including “death to Arabs,” the sources added.

In a statement, the Palestinian Education Ministry called the incident a “violation of the sanctity of educational institutions and an assault on the safe learning environment.”

The ministry said the attack was part of “a series of ongoing violations targeting schools, students and educational staff, threatening the stability of the educational process and affecting students’ right to learn in a safe and stable environment.”

It stressed the “need to protect educational institutions from such attacks and ensure such attacks are not repeated to safeguard the dignity of students and teachers and preserve the continuity of education.”

In February, illegal settlers carried out 511 attacks across the West Bank, killing seven Palestinians by gunfire, according to official Palestinian figures.

Since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 8, 2023, attacks by Israeli forces and illegal settlers in the West Bank have killed 1,133 Palestinians, injured about 11,700 others and led to the arrest of roughly 22,000 people.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing By Khaled Badr