Israeli minors assault Palestinian pupils on a school trip

A group of Israeli students assaulted Palestinian teachers and pupils in northern Israel on Wednesday, leaving more than a dozen people hospitalised.

The attack involved pepper spray, as well as verbal and physical assaults on staff and students from Ibn Khaldoun School in Sakhnin. The group was on a school trip to the Beisan area, also known as Beit She’an.

Israeli police arrested three minors suspected of involvement, along with an adult believed to have been in charge.

The school principal, Kamal Abu Younis, described the incident to the Arab48 news outlet as a “racist attack on seventh- and eighth-grade students by Jewish settlers”.

He said around 14 students and teachers were transferred to HaEmek Medical Center in Afula with minor injuries.

“We condemn this racist attack against our children, during which the attackers directed obscene and racist insults,” the principal said. “We will be meeting to discuss this dangerous development.”

According to a spokesperson for Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, a report was received at midday. More than a dozen minors required treatment for minor injuries, most of them boys aged around 15, along with two people in their 20s.

Videos circulating online show distressed students recovering from the assault, some covering their eyes or sitting on the ground. Other footage shows staff and students attempting to treat eye injuries caused by teargas.

לפני שעה קלה חבורה של גזענים תקפה תלמידי בית הספר אבן ח’לדון בסכנין, בפארק המעיינות.
13 תלמידים נפצעו, ושני מורים פונו לבית החולים.

שוחחתי לפני דקות אחדות עם כמאל אבו יונס, מנהל בית הספר, ואמרתי לו בבירור: לא נשתוק מול הטרור הגזעני הזה.

התקיפות נגד אזרחים ערבים, רק בשל היותם… pic.twitter.com/vdSTsh0DKB

— איימן עודה أيمن عودة Ayman Odeh (@AyOdeh) February 4, 2026

The attack drew widespread condemnation from Palestinian officials and community leaders in Israel.

On Thursday morning, the school held a demonstration calling for an end to violence and racism, and demanding increased protection for Palestinian communities.

Ayman Odeh, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, condemned the attack, saying that “attacks against Arab citizens, solely because they are Arabs, are becoming an everyday phenomenon”.

"A few minutes ago I spoke with Kamal Abu Younis, the school principal, and I told him clearly: 'We will not remain silent in the face of this racist terror.'

"But a person is not born racist. The racist and inciting government bears the main responsibility."

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The Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education (FUCAE) also criticised the assault, warning that Palestinian citizens face “two parallel sources of danger: targeted fascism and the rise of organised crime”.

“This incident is not isolated, but part of an organised escalation of incitement and fascism against our Arab community,” the committee said, adding that students are living under growing internal threats due to the spread of violence affecting schools and the wider education system.

“We are facing a complex emergency that undermines students’ fundamental right to safety and education, and exposes a structural failure by the state to protect minors.”

The FUCAE called on the Ministry of Education to take concrete steps to provide systematic protection for Palestinian students and educational staff.

Palestinian citizens of Israel are the descendants of Palestine's native population, which was violently displaced by Zionist militias during the creation of Israel in 1948. 

For decades, they have suffered under discriminatory laws and practices imposed by the Israeli state.

They have long reported facing limited access to housing and public services, and heightened exposure to racist and criminal attacks.