Three children in Masafer Yatta, in the southern occupied West Bank, are preparing for a new school year under the shadow of demolition threats and ongoing uncertainty about whether their school will survive the academic year.

Farah, Mohammed and Jawad, aged 17, 8 and 7 respectively, attend Shaab al-Butum school in a village of the same name. When they return, the building will already be missing two administrative rooms and a storage room, demolished by Israeli forces on August 4.

According to the United Nations, Israel justified the demolitions by stating that the structures were built without Israeli-issued building permits. Such permits are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in Area C of the occupied West Bank, which remains under Israeli administrative and military control.

The rest of the school is not safe either. It has also been threatened with demolition, with a court hearing scheduled for September 15.

Farah said the school was the only one she had ever attended and expressed fear about what would happen next. Mohammed said he was worried Israeli forces would "return to demolish what remains" of the school. Jawad spoke of his sadness at seeing the school damaged and said he hoped it could "return as it was."

For Nidal Younis, head of the Masafer Yatta local council, those concerns reflect a far wider threat facing education across the area. Masafer Yatta was declared part of a closed Israeli military firing zone in the 1980s, a designation that has been used repeatedly to justify efforts to force local Palestinians out.

"It is a test renewed with every school year, amidst unprecedented escalation by the occupation authorities," Younis said.

"This year comes amid the tightening of the occupation's policy of demolishing schools, and rampant settler violence that targets everything in these villages," he added.

That violence, Younis said, follows children throughout their daily lives, targeting "students going to their schools, students while in class, and even inside the home."

According to Younis, all seven schools in the wider Masafer Yatta area are now threatened with demolition.

"We do not know whether these schools will survive to the end of this academic year, let alone still be standing when the next one begins," he said, stressing the determination of local Palestinians to remain "despite the pain and [Israeli] barbarism."

Activist and teacher Tariq Hathaleen said the uncertainty surrounding demolitions, combined with the continued expansion of settlement outposts, had deepened the sense of insecurity among residents.

"The occupation authorities do not usually tell the residents or the school administration in advance when the bulldozers will arrive," Hathaleen said.

He added that settlers had stormed Ras Ein al-Auja school in the Jordan Valley during the previous academic year, assaulting staff and students. The attack and the demolitions confirmed that schools were "no longer immune from attack," he said.

"[Israel's actions] do not target merely one aspect, but affects education, housing, freedom of movement and livelihoods," Hathaleen said.

He described the targeted schools, built by the Palestinian Ministry of Education to serve marginalised communities, as "more than just educational buildings."

Figures from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission underscore the scale of the threat. According to the commission, 84 Palestinian schools serving nearly 13,000 students currently face Israeli demolition or stop-work orders.

Amir Dawoud, a senior official with the commission, said the schools facing the most immediate legal threats were concentrated in the southern Hebron area, particularly Masafer Yatta, as well as al-Walaja school near Bethlehem, which Israel says lacks a building permit.

"These are not schools that can simply be closed and their students easily transferred elsewhere," Dawoud said.

He noted that the impact of demolition orders begins long before any building is physically destroyed, creating uncertainty and disruption for students, teachers and their families.

"The psychological and educational impact begins before the bulldozer arrives," he said.

"It is a systematic pattern that transcends individual cases," Dawoud added, noting that it begins with planning restrictions, accompanied by road restrictions and settler attacks.

"It does not only threaten school buildings," he said. "It targets the ability of Palestinian communities to survive."