In the starting lineup, coming off the bench or even on the pickleball court, Marcus Smart knows he can deliver what the Lakers need. So LeBron James’ return and the question of how it could affect his role isn’t slowing down Smart.
“I like to [think of] myself as a Swiss Army knife,” Smart said Saturday as the Lakers prepared for a game at Utah on Sunday. “It’s not one thing I do great, but I do everything very well. … People come back, people get hurt. People have great games, have bad games. You have to adjust to whatever the game is calling for at that moment.”
With four days to regroup after James made his long-awaited season debut, the Lakers (11-4) want to continue their strong start. Smart had started nine times in a row before James’ return. Smart then played a season-low 17 minutes in Tuesday’s 140-126 win against the Jazz at home, scoring five points with three rebounds. He made just two shots, but coach JJ Redick commended Smart’s play off the bench along with the performances of Jake LaRavia, Jaxson Hayes and Gabe Vincent.
Vincent returned from a sprained ankle that cost him 11 games to score six points on two-for-three shooting from three-point range. LaRavia led the bench group with 16 points and four rebounds. He was six for 10 from the field, including two three-pointers.
Signing as a free agent this offseason, LaRavia knew getting to play with James was part of the deal. He had to wait through training camp, the preseason and 14 games to get his wish, but it was worth it. The 24-year-old LaRavia, who was five days shy of his second birthday when James made his NBA debut, knocked down a first-quarter shot off a James assist.
“It was dope to finally get on the court with him,” LaRavia said. “He brings something to this team that I don’t think we really had. It’s another level of passing ability that he’s able to do, and just the force he is on offense in transition and just when he has the ball in his hands.”
The Lakers are tied for the second-fewest transition possessions per game but they’ve been picking up the pace. Through the first nine games the team was scoring 9.5% of its points in transition. That mark ticked up to 13.4% in the last five games.
Utah (5-10) is one of the fastest teams, averaging 102.6 possessions per game. With pace increasing over the years, the heavier workloads have made minor soft-tissue injuries unfortunate realities in the NBA. They also make extended breaks between games, like the four-day reprieve the Lakers had last week, a major luxury.
In between much-needed rest and efficient practice sessions for a team that has been fully healthy for only a week, the Lakers also used the time for team bonding in the form of a trash-talk-filled pickleball tournament.
Smart and Redick and a third teammate, head video coordinator Michael Wexler — whom Redick anonymously accused of eating during the entire tournament — went to the semifinals. They lost to Luka Doncic and player development coach Ty Abbott. LaRavia and assistant coach Beau Levesque won the championship. Redick raised questions about the fairness of the team pairings.
As with everything involving ultracompetitive athletes, even the innocent pickleball games got heated. Smart was trying to be mindful to not push his limits too much.
“The last thing I need to get out and do is roll my ankle trying to play pickleball,” said Smart, who said he would rather play tennis.
It was still a welcome break from the monotony of the season, Redick said. He graded the experience an A.
“We got through this week without wanting to kill each other,” Redick said with a smirk.
Etc.
Center Deandre Ayton missed practice Saturday because of an illness. He was expected to join the team on the trip to Utah.
Former Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israel has “lost the war on social media,” describing the online space as the most dangerous and complex arena shaping global public opinion, especially among younger generations.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington, DC, Hagari urged the creation of a powerful new propaganda apparatus modelled on the capabilities and structure of Unit 8200, Israel’s elite cyber intelligence division. He argued that Israel must now fight “a battle of images, videos, and statistics—not lengthy texts.”
Hagari proposed establishing a unit capable of monitoring anti-Israel content across platforms, in real time and in multiple languages, supplying rapid-response messaging and data to government and media outlets. His plan also calls for the systematic creation of fake online identities, automated bot networks, and the use of unofficial bloggers—“preferably mostly young women”—to shape global perceptions.
He warned that the decisive phase of this battle will unfold a decade from now, when students using artificial intelligence tools search for information on the events of October 7 and encounter “two completely contradictory narratives.”
Hagari, a former navy officer who served in sensitive military roles, became Israel’s top military spokesperson in 2023 before being dismissed from the position earlier this year.
One soldier was injured Thursday morning after an explosion occurred inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, officials said.
The explosion took place at 9:20 a.m. on the western front of the DMZ in Paju, just northwest of Seoul, for unknown reasons, according to officials.
A 24-year-old Army staff sergeant, who was on a mission to detect land mines on the southern side of the inter-Korean border at the time, sustained what is presumed to be an ankle fracture due to the blast.
He was wearing anti-mine protective gear and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
Military authorities are investigating the exact cause of the accident.
Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.
Driscoll and his contingent are set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tomorrow and have already been briefed by top Ukrainian military leaders. The meetings are taking place amid swirling rumors about a peace plan in the works that we will discuss in greater length later in this story.
🇺🇦🇺🇸Met in Kyiv with @SecArmy Daniel Driscoll. Ukraine is a reliable ally of the United States, and we are ready to strengthen America’s global leadership, drawing on the lessons of modern warfare. Ukrainian products in the fields of unmanned systems, communications, and… pic.twitter.com/OxKcFMVoQm
Driscoll told “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday that Ukraine’s use of drones and AI technology is an “incredible treasure trove of information for future warfare.” He particularly noted Operation Spider Web, the surprise attack Ukraine launched in June deep inside Russia. Driscoll pointed out that a “couple hundred thousand dollars worth of drones” to destroy Russian equipment valued at about $10 billion. During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House last month, he offered drone technology to the U.S.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is in Ukraine as part of a U.S. delegation to restart peace talks to end the war with Russia. As part of the visit, Driscoll will see Ukrainian technology from the Ukrainian military and defense industry, @margbrennan reports.
During his meeting with the Driscoll contingent, Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief said he explained the latest battlefield conditions, Kyiv’s ongoing need for weaponry and his nation’s defense technology advancements.
“I emphasized that the enemy is building up its troop formations, continuing offensive operations and increasing their intensity, and launching missile strikes against residential areas, resulting in numerous civilian casualties,” Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Facebook. “We discussed strengthening Ukraine’s capabilities in air and missile defense, deep-strike systems, unmanned systems, training of the Defense Forces personnel, and other priority areas,” Syrskyi added. “I once again stressed that reinforcing the protection of Ukraine’s airspace, expanding our long-range strike capabilities against enemy military targets, and maintaining and stabilizing the front line will undermine the offensive potential of the adversary and ultimately compel it toward a just peace.”
Syrskyi also noted that Ukraine has severely damaged Russia’s energy infrastructure in long-range strikes and that his country’s “unique combat experience and rapid innovation cycles will contribute to scaling up mutually beneficial Ukrainian–American cooperation in the defense sector.”
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksander Syrskyi met today with U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to talk about the state of the war. (Ukraine Armed Forces General Staff)
However, as Syrskyi was meeting with the Americans, Russian forces were pushing deeper into yet another eastern Ukrainian city.
“BREAKING on the Donetsk front: Russian forces have broken through Ukrainian defenses south of Siversk,” former Zelensky spokesperson Iulia Mendel proclaimed on X. “Russians entered Siversk from the south and now control roughly 20% of the city. Ukrainian soldier ‘Muchnyi’ confirms the southern flank is gradually collapsing; Russians are infiltrating in small assault groups and trying to dig in inside the private residential sector. Siversk is under direct threat.”
BREAKING on the Donetsk front: Russian forces have broken through Ukrainian defenses south of Siversk. Russians entered Siversk from the south and now control roughly 20% of the city. Ukrainian soldier “Muchnyi” confirms the southern flank is gradually collapsing; Russians are… pic.twitter.com/dYgckEvkaB
The growing encroachment into Siversk comes as Russian forces are working to encircle Ukrainian troops across the Donetsk region. The Russian advances there come as they are also getting closer to seizing the former coal mining city of Pokrovsk, about 60 miles to the southwest. For more than a year, Pokrovsk has served as a bulwark against Russian advances in the region, inflicting a tremendous amount of damage on the invaders. You can see more about that fight in the following video by Kyiv Independent reporter Francis Farrel.
Beyond the frontlines, Russia staged one of its most deadly attacks on western Ukraine.
At least 25 people, including three children, were killed in a Russian missile and drone attack that struck two blocks of apartments in the city of Ternopil, Zelensky said. Another 93 people were wounded.
“Again, the Russians killed innocent peaceful people who were simply sleeping in their homes,” he stated. “My condolences to all who lost relatives and loved ones.”
Right now, all our services keep working in Ternopil to help the victims and save as many lives as possible. Points of Invincibility have been set up, where people can receive the support they need.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 19, 2025
Meanwhile, Zelensky finds himself in tremendous political peril at home as members of his inner circle stand accused of stealing $100 million from the state-owned nuclear power company.
“At the heart of the case is Energoatom, the nuclear power company,” The New York Times explained. “Investigators said that participants in the scheme had pressured Energoatom contractors to pay kickbacks of 10 to 15 percent.”
“If contractors refused, they were denied payments owed by Energoatom, according to investigators,” the Times added. “The scheme, they said, exploited a rule under martial law that prevents contractors from collecting debts in court from companies providing essential services, including Energoatom, which covers more than half of Ukraine’s electricity needs.”
According to investigators, the scheme was led by Timur Mindich, who co-owned a television studio founded by Zelensky, now facing growing calls for a purge of his associates. “Fedir Venislavskiy, a member of Mr. Zelensky’s party, said that the president’s powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, should resign” as a result, the publication noted.
The issue has raised the ire of international donors and has weakened the Ukrainian leader’s hand, the BBC noted in the following newscast.
“Zelenksy is in the weakest position he’s been [in]…”
Robert Wilkie, who served in the first Trump administration, says corruption allegations facing the Ukrainian Government could weaken its hand in a reported US peace plan, and even force a change in leadership.#Newsnightpic.twitter.com/lPNGuzgbpc
Against the backdrop of all these events, the Trump administration is taking another stab at bringing the nearly four-year-old full-scale war to a close.
“U.S. and Russian officials have quietly drafted a new plan to end the war in Ukraine that would require Kyiv to surrender territory and severely limit the size of its military,” the Guardian noted.
“The 28-point Trumpplan calls for Russia to gain full de facto control of Luhansk and Donetsk (together referred to as the Donbas), despite Ukraine still controlling around 14.5% of the territory there, per the latest analysis by the Institute for the Study of War,” Axios reported.
“Despite being under Russian control, the areas in Donbas from which Ukraine would withdraw would be considered a demilitarized zone, with Russia not able to position troops there,” the outlet added. “In two other war-torn regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the current lines of control would mostly be frozen in place, with Russia returning some land, subject to negotiations.”
“Crucially, it also calls for Ukraine to abandon key categories of weaponry and would include the rollback of U.S. military assistance that has been vital to its defense, potentially leaving the country vulnerable to future Russian aggression,” Financial Times suggested. “Additionally, no foreign troops would be allowed on Ukrainian soil and Kyiv would no longer receive western long-range weapons that can reach deep inside Russia.”
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev are believed to have been involved in working on the 28-point peace plan,” the BBC pointed out. Zelensky and Trump “have already agreed to stop the conflict along the existing lines of engagement, and there are agreements on granting security guarantees,” according to the BBC.
The Trump administration has signaled to Zelensky “that Ukraine must accept a U.S.-drafted framework to end the war,” Reuters wrote.
It is still early in the process, however, and it is possible that some of these reports may prove premature or inaccurate, and it is possible the terms may change or still be in flux.
Zelensky, meanwhile, was meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara to talk about a potential peace plan.
“We discussed in detail the real ways to a reliable and dignified end to the war,” Zelensky explained. “Since the beginning of this year, we in Ukraine have supported all decisive steps and the leadership of President Trump, every strong and fair proposal to end this war.”
“And only President Trump and the United States of America have enough power to finally end the war,” he added. “But the main thing to stop the bloodshed and achieve lasting peace is that we work in coordination together with all partners and that American leadership remains effective, strong, and brings peace that will last long and provide security to the people.”
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands after holding a joint press conference following their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on November 19, 2025. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP) OZAN KOSE
There is still a very long way to go before the guns fall silent, and the success of this latest Trump effort remains uncertain. However, given all the pressure he is under at home and abroad, Zelensky finds himself in his weakest bargaining position since Russian forces rolled into his country in February 2022.
RSF is burning and burying bodies near a university, mosque, camp for the displaced people, and hospital in el-Fasher, Yale University researchers say.
The government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have recaptured two territories in the North Kordofan state from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as the paramilitary group continues burning and burying bodies in Darfur’s el-Fasher to hide evidence of mass killings.
Footage circulating online this week showed army soldiers holding assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades celebrating their takeovers of Kazqil and Um Dam Haj Ahmed in North Kordofan, the state where intense fighting is expected to rage over the coming weeks.
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Kazqil, which had fallen to the RSF in late October, is located south of el-Obeid, the strategic capital city of the state in central Sudan, which the paramilitary group is trying to capture from the army.
The fighting between the two rival generals leading the army and the paramilitary group, which started in April 2023, has increasingly turned east over the past weeks as the RSF solidifies control over the western parts of the war-torn country, now in its third year of a brutal civil war.
The fighting, fuelled by arms supplies from the region, has created what the United Nations has called the largest displacement crisis in the world. More than 12 million people have been forced from their homes, and tens of thousands have been killed and injured. The UN has also confirmed starvation in parts of the country.
The RSF said last week it accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States and other mediators, with the announcement coming after an international outcry over atrocities committed by the paramilitary group in el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan.
But the army has refused to agree to a ceasefire under the current battle lines, and both sides have continued to amass troops and equipment in the central parts of the country to engage in more battles.
The RSF launched an offensive against the Kordofan region at the same time as it took el-Fasher late last month, seizing the town of Bara in North Kordofan state as a crucial link between Darfur and central Sudan. The army had recaptured the town just two months earlier.
Satellite images reveal mass graves
More than two and a half weeks after fully capturing el-Fasher from the army, the RSF has continued to dispose of bodies in large numbers.
An analysis of satellite imagery released by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) on Friday exposed four new locations where paramilitary fighters are disposing of bodies in and around el-Fasher.
Activities consistent with body disposal are visible at the University of Alfashir, a structure on the edge of Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced people, a neighbourhood near al-Hikma Mosque, and at Saudi Hospital, where RSF forces massacred hundreds.
The HRL could not conclude how many people the RSF had killed or how quickly, but it said the observations are alarming, given the fact that the whereabouts of many civilian residents remain unknown.
🚨ATROCITY ALERT🚨@HRL_YaleSPH has identified four new locations where the RSF is disposing of bodies in and around El Fasher. #KeepEyesonSudan
— Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at YSPH (@HRL_YaleSPH) November 14, 2025
Nathaniel Raymond, the lead researcher of that report, said an estimated 150,000 civilians are unaccounted for, and daily monitoring of city streets shows no activity in markets or water points, but only RSF patrols and many bodies.
“We can see them charred. So the question is, where are the people and where are the bodies coming from?” he told Al Jazeera.
Raymond said the evidence also includes numerous videos released by the RSF fighters themselves, who are “the most prodigious producers of evidence about their own crimes”.
A Turkish accident investigation has begun its work at the crash site in coordination with Georgian authorities.
Published On 12 Nov 202512 Nov 2025
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All 20 personnel on board a Turkish C-130 military cargo aircraft that crashed in Georgia close to its border with Azerbaijan have died, the Turkish Defence Ministry says, as investigators examine the cause of the accident at the site.
The confirmation came on Wednesday, a day after the plane crashed after taking off from the nearby Azerbaijani city of Ganja.
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“Our heroic comrades-in-arms were martyred,” Defence Minister Yasar Guler said in a social media post, alongside photographs of the deceased in their uniforms.
The ministry said a Turkish accident investigation, in coordination with Georgian authorities, had begun inspecting the wreckage at the crash site in the Sighnaghi municipality of Georgia’s Kakheti district early on Wednesday.
Debris at the site of a Turkish military cargo plane crash in Georgia’s Sighnaghi municipality [Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP Photo]
The crash, Turkiye’s deadliest military incident since 2020, happened about 5km (3.1 miles) from the Georgian-Azerbaijani border.
Georgia’s Sakaeronavigatsia air traffic control service said the aircraft disappeared from radar soon after entering the country’s airspace, sending no distress signal prior to the crash.
Dramatic footage published by Azerbaijani media appeared to show the aircraft sending a large cloud of black smoke into the sky after it crashed, leaving debris strewn across the ground.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “deeply saddened” by the crash and expressed his condolences.
The leaders of Azerbaijan and Georgia, along with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, have conveyed condolences over the crash, while the United States ambassador to Turkiye, Tom Barrack, also expressed his country’s solidarity.
US firm Lockheed Martin, the maker of the C-130 Hercules, also expressed its condolences and said it was committed to assisting the investigation in any way required.
The C-130 is a four-engine, turboprop transport aircraft that is widely used by militaries around the world to carry personnel, cargo and other equipment.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The U.S. Army has set a goal of buying one million new drones of all types over the next two to three years. This comes as senior officials within the service have acknowledged that it continues to lag behind global trends when it comes to fielding uncrewed aerial systems, especially weaponized types within smaller units. The Army’s planned drone shopping spree could also include large numbers of longer-range one-way attack types, something TWZ laid out a detailed case for doing just a few months ago.
Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll talked about his service’s new drone acquisition plans in a recent phone interview with Reuters from Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. The service also hopes the purchases will foster an industrial base that can churn out uncrewed aerial systems at similarly high rates for years to come.
“We expect to purchase at least a million drones within the next two to three years,” Driscoll told Reuters. “And we expect that at the end of one or two years from today, we will know that in a moment of conflict, we will be able to activate a supply chain that is robust enough and deep enough that we could activate to manufacture however many drones we would need.”
Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll is shown various drones during a visit with members of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in September. US Army
A Ukrainian drone from the 79th Air Assault Brigade drops a 40mm HEDP grenade on a Russian UR-77 Meteorit, causing a catastrophic payload explosion. pic.twitter.com/SsaQCKXsNL
“Driscoll and Picatinny’s top commander, Major General John Reim, spoke to Reuters about how the United States was taking lessons from Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has been characterized by drone deployments on an unprecedented scale,” according to that outlet. “Ukraine and Russia each produce roughly 4 million drones a year, but China is probably able to produce more than double that number, Driscoll said.”
“Driscoll said he fundamentally wanted to change how the Army saw drones – more like expendable ammunition rather than an ‘exquisite’ piece of equipment,” Reuters‘ story added.
This latter point is also directly in the stated aims behind a sweeping array of drone policy and other changes the Pentagon announced back in July. The main focus of that initiative, described as “unleashing U.S. military drone dominance,” is to accelerate the fielding of huge numbers of uncrewed aerial systems, especially weaponized types, across the entire U.S. military, as you can read more about here.
A view inside a Russian factory producing versions of the Shahed-136 kamikaze drone. Russian Media
Directly influenced by Israeli kamikaze drones, the Shahed-136 has become something of a global standard for uncrewed aircraft of this type, with similarly-sized delta-winged designs steadily emerging globally, including in the United States and China. Developments out of China include the Feilong-300D from state-run conglomerate North Industries Group Corporation, which is reportedly particularly geared toward low-cost, high-volume production. So far, the examples being built in the United States have been sold largely as training aids reflecting growing threats to friendly forces. TWZ‘s feature in September delved deeply into the benefits they could offer to the U.S. military as operational weapons in line with broader long-range fires initiatives across the services.
Another Group 3 threat system (target) broadly similar to the FLM 136 G3 ‘reverse-engineered Shahed’ threat system.
“The MQM-172 Arrowhead is designed as a high-speed, maneuverable one-way-attack and target drone platform—perfect for realistic threat emulation, training, and… https://t.co/qaEanNEC8Tpic.twitter.com/DwxlGypV4E
“Absolutely,” Maj. Gen. James “Jay” Bartholomee, head of the Army’s Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division, said in response to a question from our Howard Altman about interest in Shahed-like drones at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) annual symposium in October. “We are behind on long-range sensing and long-range launched-effect strike.”
“I think we do,” Army Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, commander of V Corps, which has its main headquarters at Fort Knox in Kentucky and a forward command post in Poland, said separately at the AUSA gathering in response to a similar question from Howard Altman about the need for Shahed-type drones.
An infographic from the US Defense Intelligence Agency with details about the Shahed-136 and Russian derivatives. DIA
Costanza also offered a blunt assessment of the service’s work to field various tiers of drones, as well as capabilities to counter the growing threats they pose.
“We’re behind. I’ll just be candid. I think we know we’re behind,” the V Corps commander said. “We aren’t moving fast enough.”
Army Secretary Driscoll’s million-drone plan is clearly a new push toward a real paradigm shift, in line with the direction from the Pentagon in July. At the same time, there are significant questions about whether the service will be able to even come close to reaching its new procurement goals, especially when it comes to funding, contracting processes, and the capacity of the U.S. industrial base. The policy changes rolled out earlier this year did include several aimed at simplifying contracting processes.
Just today, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced further plans for even more sweeping changes to acquisition processes across the U.S. military. The goal here is also to fundamentally change how the Pentagon works with the U.S. defense industrial base, all with an eye toward moving things along faster.
“This relates to the whole industrial base, and most importantly, to the large primes [prime contractors] that we do business with today,” Hegseth said in a speech earlier today. “These large defense primes need to change, to focus on speed and volume and divest their own capital to get there.”
We’re moving from a slow, contractor-dominated system (marked by limited competition, vendor lock, and cost overruns) to an industrial base that drives speed, innovation, and investment—powered by America’s unmatched ability to scale quickly. pic.twitter.com/n9lYE02WTr
“Instead of partnering with larger defense companies, he [Driscoll] said the Army wanted to work with companies that were producing drones that could have commercial applications as well,” according to Reuters.
“We want to partner with other drone manufacturers who are using them for Amazon deliveries and all the different use cases,” Driscoll said.
Whether or not the Army ultimately acquires a million new drones in the next few years, and what is included in that mix, remains to be seen. However, Secretary Driscoll has started the clock now on what could be a transformational shift for the service when it comes to fielding unrewed aerial systems.
‘Cycle of terror’ spikes as Higher Planning Council set to advance plans to build 1,985 new settlement units in occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces and settlers have carried out 2,350 attacks across the occupied West Bank last month in an “ongoing cycle of terror”, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CRRC).
CRRC head Mu’ayyad Sha’ban said on Wednesday that Israeli forces carried out 1,584 attacks – including direct physical attacks, the demolition of homes and the uprooting of olive trees – with most of the violence focused on the governorates of Ramallah (542), Nablus (412) and Hebron (401).
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The research, compiled in a CRRC monthly report titled Occupation Violations and Colonial Expansion Measures, also noted 766 attacks by settlers. The commission said they are expanding settlements, which are illegal under international law, as part of what it called an “organised strategy that aims to displace the land’s indigenous people and enforce a fully racist colonial regime”.
The report said settler attacks reached a new peak with most targeting the Ramallah governorate (195), Nablus (179) and Hebron (126). Olive pickers received the brunt of attacks, according to the report, which said they were the victims of “state terror” that had been “orchestrated in the dark backrooms of the occupation government”.
It described instances of Israeli “vandalism and theft” carried out in cahoots with Israeli soldiers that have seen the “uprooting, destruction and poisoning” of 1,200 olive trees in Hebron, Ramallah, Tubas, Qalqilya, Nablus and Bethlehem. During the violence, settlers have tried to establish seven new outposts on Palestinian land since October in the governorates of Hebron and Nablus.
For decades, the Israeli military has uprooted olive trees, an important Palestinian cultural symbol, across the West Bank as part of efforts by successive Israeli governments to seize Palestinian land and forcibly displace residents.
The spike in Israeli violence comes amid expectations that Israel’s Higher Planning Council (HPC), part of the Israeli army’s Civil Administration overseeing the occupied West Bank, will meet to discuss the construction of 1,985 new settlement units in the West Bank on Wednesday.
The left-wing Israeli movement Peace Now said 1,288 of the units would be rolled out in two isolated settlements in the northern West Bank, namely Avnei Hefetz and Einav Plan.
It said the HPC had been holding weekly meetings since November last year to advance housing projects in the settlements, thus normalising and accelerating construction on land taken from Palestinians.
Since the beginning of 2025, the HPC has pushed forward a record 28,195 housing units, Peace Now said.
In August, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich drew international condemnation after saying plans to build thousands of homes as part of the proposed E1 settlement scheme in the West Bank “buries the idea of a Palestinian state”.
The E1 project, shelved for years amid opposition from the United States and European allies, would connect occupied East Jerusalem with the existing illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.
The Israeli far right’s push to annex the West Bank would essentially end the possibility of implementing a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as outlined in numerous United Nations resolutions.
United States President Donald Trump’s administration has been adamant that it won’t allow Israel to annex the occupied territory. US Vice President JD Vance, while visiting Israel recently, said Trump would oppose Israeli annexation of the West Bank and it would not happen. Vance said as he left Israel, “If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it.”
But the US has done nothing to rein in Israel’s assaults and crackdowns on Palestinians in the West Bank as it trumpets its Gaza ceasefire efforts.
