'I wanted to protect him': A mother mourns the death of a teenager near a school during the violence of settlers in the West Bank
More than a week after a shooting near a boys' school in a West Bank village left a boy and a man in their 30s dead, the community is still reeling, and residents say they fear more violence at the hands of Israeli settlers and soldiers.
“I wanted to protect him, but I didn't have time,” cried Nidaa al-Naasan, the mother of Aws Al-Naasan, 14, when she visited the area in Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, where her son was killed.
Surrounded by weeping family members, he fell to his knees, crying in the area outside the school where Aws was shot, allegedly by an Israeli police officer. He cried and raised his hands to the sky as he mourned his son, whose body was buried in the local cemetery next to that of Jihad Abu Naim, 32, who was killed in the same incident.
The other three were injured in this incident.
In its first statement on the April 21 shooting, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops were dispatched to Al-Mughayyir following reports of stones being thrown at a vehicle carrying several Israeli civilians, including an IDF soldier.
The IDF said the officer got out of the car and opened fire on “suspects in the area.” The soldiers said that he was subsequently fired from his job in the reserve, and his weapon was confiscated. When CBC asked if the soldier would face criminal charges or continue to be disciplined, the IDF said military police are reviewing ” claim about two Palestinians killed and more injured.”
This shooting left the parents and students of this school shocked. About half of the students have not returned to class, said the school's headmaster, Bassam Abu-Assaf.
Palestinians in the West Bank say they fear for the safety of their children after an attack on a school killed two people, including a 14-year-old child – violence they blame on Israeli settlers.
“Parents are very worried about the safety of their children,” he said through an interpreter.
“Everyone is nervous – the community, students and parents.”
Omar Nassan, 17, knew both victims. He is distantly related to Aws and attends the same school.
“He's not the first or last friend I've lost,” she said. “I've accepted that I will follow, it's not really much of a life. It's waiting to die now. It's not living.”
About three million Palestinians live in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), which is home to more than 500,000 Israeli residents. The last group went intensified the attacks on the Palestinians months ago as Israel moved to expand settlements in the West Bank. The United Nations and several Western countries, including Canada, have declared it illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this, saying the settlement is legal under Israeli law.
'It's getting too dangerous'
Eyewitnesses to the incident said that instead of chasing the shooter, the Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the students and teachers. The IDF in its statement said that after arriving at the scene of the incident, IDF soldiers are “working to disperse violent fighting in the area.”
“It is very dangerous, not only for the immigrants but also for the soldiers,” said Saed Na-a-San, whose two sons, aged 10 and 13, attend this school.
Na-a-San says she rushed to school on the day of the attack and found a very scary scene. She has decided to bring her two boys back to class but is taking special precautions.
“Before, children used to walk to school, now I put them in the car.
“I stay at school and wait for them to finish and then take them home, I stopped working, now my job is to keep my children safe.”
A video taken on the day of the attack shows scenes of panic as children run to help their classmates who fell amid the gunfire. In one video, a man dressed in military fatigues is seen walking, crouching and shooting towards the school.
More than 40 Palestinians have been killed this year
Before this latest shooting, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had said that 42 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank occupied by Israel since April 23: 13 by settlers, 28 by Israeli soldiers and one undetermined. That's over all of 2025, when the residents were counted nine of the 240 dead were Palestinians.
OCHA report released on April 10 recorded attacks on more than 580 residents in more than 190 communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem resulting in injuries, property damage or both.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the violence of the settlers once he promised to attack but he also pointed out that “a handful of zealots” who oversee the residents' movement. Meanwhile, other human rights organizations and the United Nations, accuse the Israeli authorities of always turning a blind eye or actively supporting attacks on the Palestinian people.
March report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described a pattern of targeted civilian attacks in dismissing Palestinian civilians as “concerted, strategic and largely unchallenged … where Israeli authorities play a significant role in directing, participating in or condoning this behavior.” The report found it difficult to distinguish between state and settler violence and warned that the forced eviction of Palestinian communities raised “concerns about ethnic cleansing.”
The Israeli government continues its policy of expanding settlements in the occupied territories. Netanyahu's government has approved more than 100 new settlements since taking office in 2022, declared settlements that were deemed unauthorized and has begun reestablishing areas closed decades ago under the previous eviction policy.
Netanyahu said in the past that the purpose of building settlements is to protect Israel's security and “fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state.”
Last September, Canada, the UK, France and other countries recognized the status of Palestine without specifying any territorial boundaries.
