Palestinian Children Crawl Under Israeli Gates to Reach School

Palestinian children in Jenin are crawling under Israeli military gates to reach school, according to video published Oct. 26, 2026 by Al Jazeera. The network's report says the children make the trip to and from classes through gates erected as part of Israeli military movement restrictions in the occupied West Bank city.

The footage, distributed through Al Jazeera's NewsFeed segment, does not identify the children by name or specify the school involved. It shows them ducking low and passing beneath a barrier rather than walking through a checkpoint entrance, a detail the broadcast frames as evidence of how closures have reshaped daily routines for families in the area.

How many students are affected by the closures?

Al Jazeera reports that movement restrictions tied to Israeli military gates and checkpoints have disrupted education for 24,500 Palestinian students across the occupied West Bank so far this year. The figure, cited directly in the network's report, is presented as a cumulative tally for 2026 rather than a single-day count, and Al Jazeera does not break down how many of those students are in Jenin specifically versus other West Bank towns.

No additional breakdown — by grade level, school, or length of disruption — appears in the available reporting. The network also does not specify whether the 24,500 figure comes from a Palestinian Authority ministry, a United Nations agency, or an Al Jazeera count, leaving the sourcing of that number unconfirmed beyond the broadcast itself.

Why are there military gates near the school route?

The Al Jazeera report ties the gates to the broader system of Israeli military control in the West Bank, which Al Jazeera's video description characterizes as part of an occupation. The report does not include a statement from the Israeli military explaining the operational purpose of the specific gate shown in the footage, nor does it say whether the barrier is tied to a security operation, a checkpoint closure, or a permanent structure.

Without a response from Israeli authorities in the available material, the rationale for the gate's placement and its effect on the school route cannot be independently confirmed beyond what the video depicts.

What does the video actually show?

The clip, part of Al Jazeera's NewsFeed series, is built around raw footage rather than a narrated investigation. It runs as a short-form video item alongside other same-day NewsFeed segments the network published Oct. 26, including unrelated items on a weapons depot explosion in Syria and a bus crash near Barcelona. The Jenin segment itself is brief, focused on the physical act of children crawling under a gate to continue on their way, according to the published description.

Al Jazeera's framing links the clip to its wider Israel-Palestine conflict coverage, including related video packages the network has run on detention conditions and diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government, though those are separate pieces and not part of the sourced reporting on the school gate itself.

Has either side commented on the disruption to schooling?

The available material does not include an on-camera or written statement from a Palestinian education official, a parent, a student, or an Israeli military spokesperson addressing the specific closure shown in the video. Al Jazeera's own summary — that children in Jenin must crawl under gates to get to and from school, and that restrictions have disrupted education for 24,500 students in the West Bank this year — stands as the only sourced characterization of the situation in the reporting reviewed.

No outside body, such as a United Nations human rights office or a West Bank governorate spokesperson, is quoted confirming or contesting the 24,500 figure or describing steps to reopen or reroute access near the affected school.

What happens next for students in Jenin?

The report does not indicate whether Israeli authorities plan to adjust the gate or checkpoint near the school, nor does it say whether Palestinian education officials are pursuing an alternate route for students. Al Jazeera's video stands as a single dated snapshot — Oct. 26, 2026 — of conditions at one gate in Jenin, without a stated timeline for change.

Al Jazeera has published a series of related video reports on West Bank conditions and regional diplomacy this week, including items on Jordan's arrests over a church attack and on whether U.S. midterm results could affect military support for Israel, but none of those pieces address the Jenin school gate directly. Readers following the story have, for now, only the original clip and the figures contained in it: one gate, one city, and a reported 24,500 students affected across the West Bank this year.