Occupation prevents student from taking high school exams in Hebron amid escalating arrests

Human rights sources reported that Israeli occupation forces carried out an arrest operation on Monday morning against a high school student from Hebron Governorate, just hours before he was scheduled to take his ministerial exam. The Palestinian Prisoner's Club clarified that the detainee is 18-year-old Fajar Ahmed Al-Mashni, from the town of Al-Shuyoukh, located northeast of the governorate, where he was taken to an unknown destination.

According to data issued by the Prisoner's Club, Al-Mashni's arrest raises the number of high school students detained in Israeli prisons to 66 students this year alone. This step comes at a time when thousands of Palestinian students are taking their final exams, which began last Saturday uniformly across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in a clear challenge to the ongoing war conditions.

Human rights organizations considered the targeting of students at this sensitive stage to be part of a systematic policy aimed at obstructing the educational process and destroying the future of Palestinian youth. Sources confirmed that Israeli authorities have escalated the pursuit of students at various educational levels since last October, with detainees subjected to harsh detention conditions, including abuse and deprivation of communication with their families.

In a related context, Hebron Governorate witnessed additional attacks, including the arrest of two brothers from the Masafer Yatta area to the south, coinciding with attacks carried out by settlers targeting and vandalizing citizens' property. These violations are part of a wide-ranging campaign launched by the Israeli army and settlers in the West Bank, which has resulted in the martyrdom of hundreds, the injury of thousands, and the displacement of entire families since late last year.

In occupied Jerusalem, occupation forces arrested a child from the town of Silwan, south of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid ongoing incursions and raids on Palestinian villages and towns. Official reports confirm that the number of detainees in the West Bank has approached the 23,000 mark since the beginning of the latest escalation, reflecting the scale of the security campaign targeting all segments of Palestinian society.

Official statistics indicate that the West Bank has lost 1,173 martyrs since October 2023, while the number of injuries has exceeded 12,666 cases, amid extremely complex humanitarian and economic conditions. High school exams continue in the West Bank until July 8, while they extend in the Gaza Strip until the end of the same month, despite the massive destruction that has affected educational institutions there.

The Prisoner's Club stressed that students inside prisons face multiplied challenges, as they are deprived of their basic right to education guaranteed by international laws, in addition to being subjected to physical and psychological torture methods. Human rights bodies called on the international community to intervene immediately to stop the targeting of the educational process and protect Palestinian students from arbitrary arrests that pursue them even in examination halls.

The continued detention of high school students represents a direct violation of their right to education and reflects a systematic policy targeting the educational path of Palestinians.