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Watch Premier League highlights, as late goals from Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Callum Wilson help West Ham beat Nottingham Forest at The City Ground for their first win of the season.

MATCH REPORT: Nottingham Forest 0 – 3 West Ham

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West Ham have signed midfielder Mateus Fernandes from Southampton in a deal worth more than £40m.

The 21-year-old Portuguese joins on a five-year contract and becomes West Ham’s third-biggest signing, behind Sebastien Haller (£45m) and Lucas Paqueta (£51m).

Fernandes moved to Southampton from Sporting for £15m in 2024, so the Saints have made a substantial profit after one year.

He made 46 appearances for Southampton, scoring four goals and providing seven assists.

“I’m very excited to play for West Ham,” said Fernandes.

“I think it’s a big step for me. It’s a big club, a massive club. The project, the stadium, the city, everything.”

The move should be a boost for under-pressure Hammers manager Graham Potter, whose side have lost their first three matches of the season in all competitions.

They were beaten 3-0 by newly-promoted Sunderland in their first Premier League outing before being thrashed 5-1 by Chelsea, and lost to Wolves in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

West Ham are also close to completing the signing of Monaco midfielder Soungoutou Magassa, 21, for a fee of about £17.3m.

Fund said decision against Caterpillar and five Israeli banks due to their contribution ‘to serious violations of rights in situations of war and conflict’.

Norway’s $2-trillion wealth fund, the largest in the world, has divested from US construction equipment giant Caterpillar over the firm’s purported involvement in rights violations perpetrated by the Israeli military in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The Norwegian central bank said on Monday that it had decided to exclude Caterpillar from the fund, which it manages, “due to an unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war and conflict”.

The fund also announced that it had divested from five Israeli banks, based on the recommendation of its council on ethics.

In a statement, the ethics council said that “bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar are being used by Israeli authorities in the widespread unlawful destruction of Palestinian property”.

“There is no doubt that Caterpillar’s products are being used to commit extensive and systematic violations of international humanitarian law,” the council said.

It added that Caterpillar had “not implemented any measures to prevent such use” by Israeli authorities.

Prior to its divestment, the fund held a 1.17 percent stake in Caterpillar valued at $2.1bn as of June 30, according to fund data.

The five banks named in the fund’s statement were Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, First International Bank of Israel and FIBI Holdings.

The ethics council said the banks excluded had, “by providing financial services that are a necessary prerequisite for construction activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem … contributed to the maintenance of Israeli settlements”.

“The settlements have been established in violation of international law, and their continued existence constitutes an ongoing breach of international law,” the council said.

Just last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israeli settlements built on Palestinian territory seized in 1967 should end “as rapidly as possible”, as they “have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law”.

Last week, 21 countries signed a joint statement condemning Israel’s plans to build an illegal settlement on a 12 sq km (4.6 sq-mile) tract of land east of Jerusalem known as “East 1” or “E1”.

The massive construction, which envisions 3,400 new homes for Israeli settlers, cuts off most of the occupied West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem.

Hailing the plan, Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the extent of the settlement and its cutting into Palestinian territory would bury the possibility of a future Palestinian state “because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise”.

The Norwegian fund’s stakes in the five Israeli banks were valued at a combined $661m, according to fund data.

Caterpillar, Hapoalim, First International Bank of Israel and Bank Leumi did not immediately reply to emailed requests for comment by the Reuters news agency.

The fund had announced on August 18 that it would divest from six companies as part of an ongoing ethics review over the war in Gaza and the situation in the occupied West Bank, but declined at the time to name any groups until its stakes in the entities were sold.

The fund is invested in some 8,400 companies worldwide.

Israeli destruction in al-Mughayyir near Ramallah is part of push to forcibly displace Palestinians, researcher says.

The Israeli military has destroyed about 3,000 olive trees in a village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the head of the local council says, as Palestinians face a continued wave of violence across the territory in the shadow of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Israeli military issued an order on Saturday to uproot olive trees in a 0.27sq-km (0.1sq-mile) area in al-Mughayyir, a village of about 4,000 residents northeast of Ramallah.

The army justified the measure by saying the trees posed a “security threat” to a main Israeli settlement road that runs through the village’s lands.

The destruction was carried out as al-Mughayyir has been under lockdown since Thursday after an Israeli settler said he was shot at in the area.

The deputy head of the village council, Marzouq Abu Naim, told Palestinian news agency Wafa that Israeli soldiers had stormed more than 30 homes since dawn on Saturday, destroying residents’ property and vehicles.

For decades, the Israeli military has uprooted olive trees – an important Palestinian cultural symbol – across the occupied Palestinian territory as part of the country’s efforts to seize Palestinian land and forcibly displace residents.

The West Bank also has seen a surge in Israeli military and settler violence since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, and tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes.

More than 2,370 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have been reported across the area from January 2024 to the end of July this year, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The highest number of attacks – 585 – was recorded in the Ramallah area, followed by 479 in the Nablus region in the northern West Bank.

At least 671 Palestinians, including 129 children, also have been killed by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers across the West Bank in that same time period, OCHA said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Saturday on the uprooting of the olive trees in al-Mughayyir.

Hamza Zubeidat, a Palestinian researcher, said the destruction is part of Israel’s “continuous” effort to force Palestinians off their lands.

“We have to be clear that since 1967, Israel is still implementing the same plan of evicting the Palestinian population from the countryside and the cities of the West Bank. What’s going on right now is just a continuous process of this eviction of Palestinians. It’s not a new Israeli process,” Zubeidat told Al Jazeera.

He noted that al-Mughayyir has a long agricultural history and, like other villages in the West Bank, relies almost entirely on agriculture and livestock as its main source of income.

“This area where more than 3,000 olive trees [were] uprooted is one of the most fertile areas in this part of the Ramallah area,” Zubeidat explained.

“Uprooting trees, confiscated water springs, blocking and preventing Palestinians from accessing their farms and water sources means more food and water insecurity.”

Football Focus’s Chris Sutton, Glen Murray and Alex Scott discuss the issues Graham Potter is facing at West Ham after they lost their opening two Premier League games of the new season, conceding eight goals.

WATCH MORE: West Ham booed as Chelsea score five in convincing win

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It is of course very early to suggest that a relegation battle beckons for West Ham this season, but there’s no doubt it is a significant concern for many of their supporters right now.

With one goal scored and eight conceded, they are currently showing that worrying combination of struggling to score and letting in plenty, which does not bode well for aspirations of avoiding a season of struggle.

Up next is a trip to Nottingham Forest, before successive London derbies against Tottenham and Crystal Palace – all three tricky games in which West Ham will need to show considerable improvement from what they have so far.

Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie Redknapp said on Sky Sports: “If I’m Sunderland, Burnley, Leeds, I’m looking at West Ham and thinking, ‘they’re the ones, they’re the weakest team in the Premier League we’re going to catch’.

“That squad isn’t good enough. They haven’t got enough good players. That midfield just couldn’t get near, they didn’t have the legs to get around. They need to get someone with real legs.”

New faces can revitalise a squad low on confidence, but Potter did not suggest there will be many incomings before the transfer window closes on 1 September.

“I think it would be a bit obtuse of me to speak about signings when clearly we have to improve and do better with what we have,” he admitted.

“We need to do more than we are as a group and as always we will look to strengthen while the window is open.”

Potter knows he is under pressure, and how these next few weeks pan out – both in terms of results on the pitch and business in the transfer market – will have a big say on his future.

“You’re under pressure all the time in these jobs, in this situation, that’s how it is,” he added.

“I know the territory, I know what comes with poor results and I accept my responsibility.”

Aug. 19 (UPI) — A federal appeals court barred West Texas A&M University from enforcing a ban on drag shows on campus, overruling a lower court’s decision that said drag shows did not necessarily enjoy First Amendment protections.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of the LGBTQ+ Spectrum WT student group and two of its student leaders who sued the school in March 2023, after university president Walter Wendler unilaterally canceled their then-upcoming charity drag show by arguing such performances were comparable to blackface and against his religious beliefs.

The appeals court ruling puts a hold on Wendler’s ban, allowing the student group to host drag shows on campus amid litigation.

“FIRE is pleased that the Fifth Circuit has halted President Wendler’s unconstitutional censorship and restored the First Amendment at West Texas A&M,” JT Morris, supervising senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement.

“This is a victory not just for Spectrum WT, but for any public university students at risk of being silenced by campus censors.”

In March 2023, Spectrum WT was planning a drag show for adults on West Texas A&M University to raise money for the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit — but was barred from hosting the event by Wendler, who issued a ban on drag shows.

In a March 21, 2023, letter to students, Wendler stated he believes humans are created in God’s image and that drag shows do not preserve human dignity.

“As a performance exaggerating aspects of womanhood (sexuality, femininity, gender), drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood,” he said.

“Drag shows are derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent,” he continued. “Such conduct runs counter to the purpose of WT.”

Spectrum WT then sued the school and held its performance off campus.

Before the court, Wendler argued that drag shows are not express conduct protected by the First Amendment right to free speech, and that drag shows should be restricted due to lewd conduct.

In September, the lower court agreed with Wendler that not all drag shows are inherently expressive and entitled to First Amendment protections, finding Wendler was right to cancel the performance because of “potential lewdness.”

Writing on behalf of the majority, Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick, a President George W. Bush appointee, said the district court erred by concluding the student group was not likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment argument.

“Because theatrical performances plainly involve expressive conduct within the protection of the First Amendment, and because we find that plaintiffs’ drag show is protected expression, discrimination among such shows must pass strict scrutiny,” Southwick said in the ruling.

“President Wendler did not argue, either before the district court or on appeal, that restricting the intended drag show would survive strict scrutiny.”

Southwick also found that the group suffered ongoing irreparable injury to their free speech First Amendment rights as Wendler had canceled their planned show and would permit no future shows going forward.

Circuit Judge James Ho, a Trump appointee, in dissent agreed that drag shows are not inherently expressive and that if universities allow men to act as women in campus events, such as drag shows, “they may feel compelled to allow men to act as women in other campus events as well — like women’s sports.”

“What a university allows in an auditorium, it might have to allow on an athletic field, too.”

UPI has contacted West Texas A&M University for comment.

“He builds a special relationship with players and they understand where he’s coming from.

“He has a modern mindset and all of those things mean it does take some time to put a team together, to get the team playing the way that you want.

“West Ham is not a club that panics about its managers. We tend to stick with them, tend to support people, stick with them and see it through.

“I really hope he does well. He’s a pleasure to work with, he’s incredibly professional.

“I know his relationship with the players is good. I know he’ll be sitting down with them today to have a long, hard think about what went wrong yesterday, expecting a reaction and expecting to put it right.”

Potter gave full debuts to Senegal full-back El Hadji Malick Diouf, a £19m signing from Slavia Prague, and Denmark goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who joined for £20m from Leicester.

Striker Callum Wilson also made his debut as a substitute following his arrival from Newcastle, while another free transfer, Kyle Walker-Peters, remained on the bench.

West Ham have yet to bring in a direct replacement for Ghana midfielder Mohammed Kudus, who joined Tottenham for £55m.

They performed well in the first half and went close through Jarrod Bowen and Diouf, but faded badly after Eliezer Mayenda’s 61st-minute opener, conceding twice more in the final 17 minutes.

“I wish yesterday could start all over again,” added Brady. “It’s so tough to take. It’s never easy for the supporters, the players, or the manager to lose 3-0, particularly in the opening game of the season.

“I spent a lot of time with the manager and the squad in America on the pre-season tour. The spirit among them is fantastic. I know that they’ll be more disappointed, that they’ll be the most disappointed people this morning.

“I know we’ll see a reaction and I know they want to turn it around and they’ll want to turn it around quickly.”

Match of the Day pundit Wayne Rooney explains why Sunderland’s ability to sit deep and hit teams on the counter attack could be the key for the newly promoted side to avoid relegation, after their first match back in England’s top flight ended in a 3-0 win over West Ham at the Stadium of Light.

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WASHINGTON — Hundreds of West Virginia National Guard members will deploy across the nation’s capital as part of the Trump administration’s assumption of control over policing in the District of Columbia in what it says is part of a nationwide crackdown on crime on homelessness.

The move comes as federal agents and National Guard troops have begun to appear across the heavily Democratic city after Trump’s executive order on Monday federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 D.C. National Guard troops.

By adding outside troops to join the existing National Guard deployment and federal law enforcement officers temporarily assigned to Washington, President Trump is exercising even tighter control over the city. It’s a power play that the president has justified as an emergency response to crime and homelessness, even though district officials have noted that violent crime is lower than it was during Trump’s first term in office.

A protest against Trump’s intervention drew scores to Washington’s Dupont Circle on Saturday afternoon before a march to the White House, about a mile and a half away. Demonstrators assembled behind a banner that said, “No fascist takeover of D.C.,” and some in the crowd held signs that said, “No military occupation.” Trump was at his Virginia golf club after Friday’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, announced Saturday that he was sending a contingent of 300 to 400 National Guard members.

“West Virginia is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation’s capital,” Morrisey said.

Morgan Taylor, one of the organizers of Saturday’s protest, said demonstrators who turned out on a hot summer day were hoping to spark enough backlash to Trump’s actions that the administration would be forced to pull back.

“It’s hot, but I’m glad to be here. It’s good to see all these people out here,” she said. “I can’t believe that this is happening in this country at this time.”

Protesters said they are concerned about what they view as Trump’s overreach, arguing that he had used crime as a pretext to impose his will on Washington.

John Finnigan, 55, was taking an afternoon bike ride when he ran into the protest in downtown Washington. A real estate construction manager who has lived in the capital for 27 years, he said that Trump’s moves were “ridiculous” because “crime is at a 30-year low here.”

“Hopefully some of the mayors and some of the residents will get out in front of it and try and make it harder for it to happen in other cities,” Finnigan said.

Jamie Dickstein, a 24-year-old teacher, said she was “very uncomfortable and worried” for the safety of her students given the “unmarked officers of all types” now roaming Washington and detaining people.

Dickstein said she turned out to protest with friends and relatives to “prevent a continuous domino effect going forward with other cities.”

The West Virginia National Guard activation suggests the administration sees the need for additional manpower, after Trump played down the need for Washington to hire more police officers.

Maj. Gen. James Seward, West Virginia’s adjutant general — a chief aide to the governor and commanding general of the National Guard — said in a statement that members of the Guard “stand ready to support our partners in the National Capital Region” and that the Guard’s “unique capabilities and preparedness make it an invaluable partner in this important undertaking.”

Federal agents have appeared in some of the city’s most highly trafficked neighborhoods, garnering a mix of praise, resistance and alarm from local residents and leaders across the country.

City leaders, who are obligated to cooperate with the president’s order under the federal laws that direct the district’s local governance, have sought to work with the administration, though they have bristled at the scope of the president’s takeover.

On Friday, the administration reversed course on an order that aimed to place the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as an “emergency police commissioner” after the district’s top lawyer sued to contest. After a court hearing, Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, issued a memo that directed D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement regardless of any city law.

District officials say they are evaluating how to best comply.

In his order Monday, Trump declared an emergency, citing the “city government’s failure to maintain public order.” He said that impeded the “federal government’s ability to operate efficiently to address the nation’s broader interests without fear of our workers being subjected to rampant violence.”

In a letter to city residents, Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, wrote that “our limited self-government has never faced the type of test we are facing right now.”

She added that if Washingtonians stick together, “we will show the entire nation what it looks like to fight for American democracy — even when we don’t have full access to it.”

Brown and Pesoli write for the Associated Press. AP writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

It was football media day for six West Valley League teams on Saturday at Granada Hills, and as a unit, the coaches and players are convinced they have a chance to be the best league in the City Section in terms of competition.

While defending league champion Birmingham has an overall 49-game winning streak against City Section opponents, Cleveland, Granada Hills, Chatsworth, Taft and El Camino Real hope to be factors in the playoffs.

Cleveland is making strides to challenge for second place with a group of talented juniors, including two Nigerian-born players, running back Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi and linebacker Oluwafemi Okeola.

Odebunmi, in his first varsity carry in a scrimmage against Van Nuys on Thursday, ran for a touchdown.

“When I scored, I was like, ‘Oh wow,’” he said. “But I know it’s not going to be easy.”

Birmingham has an offensive line filled with 300 pounders, and when 6-foot-5, 260-pound quarterback Kevin Hawkins plays tight end, the Patriots are truly giants up front. Coach Jim Rose said of Hawkins running the ball: “It’s like tackling a lineman. He’s a huge guy out there.”

Birmingham held a pizza eating contest this past week, and the winner was lineman Pablo Granados, who ate 10 slices in seven minutes. Hawkins was runner-up with seven.

Chatsworth offensive lineman Pablo Escobedo is known for riding his horse in his Chatsworth neighborhood. “It’s pretty cool,” he said.

Chatsworth should have one of the league’s best running backs in junior Devin Del Toro, who has been playing running back and linebacker since his freshman season. Coach Shawn Johnson said he has made “a huge jump.”

There are two players in the league who are outstanding two-sport athletes in football and baseball. That’s Taft quarterback/catcher Nathan Swinson and El Camino Real defensive back/center fielder Shane Bogacz.

Both try to find time to hit the batting cages to stay sharp during football season.

Granada Hills will continue to run the double-wing attack, focusing on running the ball, but the midseason availability of transfer quarterback Taiyo Dorio from Crescenta Valley could cause coach Bucky Brooks to try a pass or two.

Wingback Myles Cross drew laughter when he said, “I caught a pass.”

Brooks offered praise to all coaches and players in the City Section.

“I applaud all those who opted to stay in the neighborhood and play for neighborhood schools,” he said. “I want to salute everyone. I love the competitiveness.”

“This reality definitively buries the idea of a Palestinian state.” Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a plan to effectively split the occupied West Bank in half, approving thousands of new Jewish settler homes between occupied East Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement.

Rizik ran on. Next to him was a young man who spoke to Al Jazeera later, requesting anonymity for his safety.

He said Rizik fell while jumping over a stone wall, hurting his legs, but that when they saw two boys who needed help, Rizik joined the young man in carrying them to safety.

But then Rizik and his friend found themselves surrounded by settlers.

They ran, but just as he dove for cover in the bushes, the friend saw a settler shoot Rizik in the chest.

“The settlers started shouting: ‘Yes! I got you!’” he recalled, describing how several settlers gathered around Rizik as he lay on the ground.

At about the time of the shooting, Rizik had called his family, but the family told others the call lasted only seconds, with no response from Rizik, although they heard shouts in Hebrew in the background.

Rizik’s friend ran for his life down the side of the mountain, heading east.

At 3:18pm, he sent a panicked voice message to local WhatsApp groups, begging for help: “Someone’s been martyred!” he beseeched.

[Audio]: Witness to Muhammad Rizik al-Shalabi’s shooting, believing he’s been killed and sending a voice message calling for help.

Later reconstructions estimated that Rizik may have still been alive at the time, but he was dead by the time search parties were able to access the area to look for him.

Meanwhile, Saif and others were running for their lives further south, headed towards Ain al-Sarara.

As family members confirmed to Al Jazeera, one of those young men was caught along the way and tied up by a gang of about nine settlers.

Witnesses say the settlers repeatedly smashed the young man in the knee with their weapons, then dragged him, tied up, into a car and shot bullets all around him.

Then they threw him to the ground over and over, until the young man was begging them to kill him.

“They said: ‘I’m not going to kill you,’” a friend recalled on TikTok. “‘I’m going to chop off your arms and your legs and throw you on the side of the road like a dog.’”

According to Sinjil activist Ayed Ghafari, among the settlers was Yahariv Mangory, reportedly the leader of the outpost builders in al-Baten, who was carrying an M16 rifle.

Mangory later identified himself in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14 as the “owner” of the al-Baten outposts.

Saif and the others had managed to go up a hill, but at about 3:30pm, they were met by a group of settlers coming downhill and attacked them from above, according to Ghafari, who spoke with the young men.

The settlers were pelting the young men with rocks, with occasional bullets zooming past them as they made their way down the hill.

A settler hit Saif square in the back with a rock, toppling him. He was instantly surrounded by a group of settlers who beat him with clubs and sticks all over, according to witnesses.

Dazed, Saif staggered to his feet after the settlers stopped beating him, heading south down the hill until he came across a big oak tree where a young Palestinian man was hiding.

Battered, he sank to the ground there for the next two and a half hours as the young man tried to reach out to people from Mazraa, asking for help.

Saif was vomiting and struggling to breathe, his condition worsening by the minute.

That was when Muhammad caught word that his big brother was in trouble.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — Israel announced plans Thursday to revive a shelved a 3,400-home development in the West Bank that would seal it off from East Jerusalem and partition the occupied territory, effectively sinking the possiblilty of a Palestinian state.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right cabinet member who is under international sanctions and investigation by the International Criminal Court over the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, said the so-called E1 project would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”

The proposed development between East Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, another Israeli settlement, has been on ice for more than a decade due to the international community’s opposition to the settlements, which are illegal under international law, and in particular E1 because of the risk to efforts to find a solution to the Palestinian question.

“After decades of international pressure and freezes, we are breaking conventions and connecting Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem. This is Zionism at its best — building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel,” Smotrich said.

Speaking at a news conference with settler leaders, Smotrich said the land in question was the rightful property of the Jewish people because it had been given to them by God.

The announcement came three days after Australia joined France, Canada, Britain, Portugal and Malta in pledging to recognize Palestinian statehood in September with Smotrich telling the BBC the nation they backed would never happen “because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize.”

Smotrich’s move drew on an identical playbook he and Defense Minister Israel Katz used in May when they signed off on 22 Jewish settlements, the most significant expansion of the Israeli presence in the occupied West Bank in decades.

The two ministers said the step granted the unofficial settlements with legal recognition from the government, with Katz saying it would “prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel.”

The May 29 move came hours after the governments of Ireland, Norway, Slovenia and Spain issued a joint communique reaffirming their commitment to the implementation of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

The far-right minister said he will approve 3,000 new homes in the controversial E1 area project, hailing it as ‘Zionism at its best’.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced he will approve thousands of housing units in a highly controversial and long-delayed illegal settlement project in the occupied West Bank, saying the move “buries the idea of a Palestinian state”.

In a statement on Wednesday, Smotrich announced his intention to approve tenders to build more than 3,000 homes in the E1 area settlement project that would connect Jerusalem and the existing Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, located several kilometres to the east.

“Approval of construction plans in E1 buries the idea of a Palestinian state and continues the many steps we are taking on the ground as part of the de facto sovereignty plan that we began implementing with the establishment of the government,” he said.

Smotrich, who is also a minister in Israel’s Ministry of Defence with broad responsibility for approving settlements in the occupied West Bank, hailed the project as “Zionism at its best”.

“After decades of international pressure and freezes, we are breaking conventions and connecting Maale Adumim to Jerusalem,” Smotrich added.

Israel Gantz, chairman of the Yesha Council – an umbrella organisation of illegal settlements in the West Bank – and head of the Binyamin Regional Council, also praised the “tremendous and historic achievement for the settlement movement”, according to Israel National News.

Gantz said it was a “true revolution in strengthening the settlement enterprise”, the outlet said.

Development of the E1 settlement – which is illegal under international law – has been frozen for decades.

Observers believe that its location will hinder the realisation of a future Palestinian state.

The planned settlement would effectively divide the occupied West Bank into northern and southern regions, preventing the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian territory connecting occupied East Jerusalem to major cities such as Bethlehem and Ramallah.

Israel postponed the plan in 2022 following US pressure. But in recent months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has approved road-widening projects in the area and begun restricting Palestinian access.

Maale Adumim mayor Guy Yifrach praised the new settlement, saying it will “connect Maale Adumim to Jerusalem and serve as a Zionist response of settlement and nation-building”.

“The Palestinians aimed to establish a stranglehold through illegal construction – this project will thwart that effort,” he said, according to Israel National News.

On Wednesday, Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said a total of 4,030 new housing units had been approved in the occupied West Bank.

Some 730 are west of the existing Israeli settlement of Ariel, while 3,300 had been approved in a new Maale Adumim neighbourhood that will connect it “with the industrial zone to its east”.

“The 3,300 housing units in Maale Adumim represent an increase of about 33 percent in the settlement’s housing stock – an enormous expansion for a settlement whose population has been stagnant at around 38,000 for the past decade,” it said.

It added that the Maale Adumim extension raised “serious questions about the need for the E1 plan”.

A Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank has been shot dead by an Israeli settler during a land-leveling operation in the village Duma. Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim explains how the killing of 35-year-old Thamin Dawabsheh is part of a growing pattern.

Grimsby Town vs Manchester United

Israeli forces ordered the Bedouin residents of Ein Ayoub to leave after declaring their village a ‘closed military zone’. Residents had faced weeks of settler attacks, arson, and drone flights over their homes, before soldiers gave them just minutes to leave.

The occupied West Bank town’s mayor says Thamin Khalil Reda Dawabsheh killed as Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians.

A Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank has been shot dead in an attack instigated by Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry as cited by the Wafa news agency.

Thamin Khalil Reda Dawabsheh, 35, was shot Wednesday morning in the town of Duma, south of Nablus, by an Israeli off-duty soldier who was accompanying “an Israeli civilian” near Duma “during engineering works”, the Israeli army said.

Earlier Palestinian reports of the attack had stated that Dawabsheh was killed by an Israeli settler.

35-year-old Thameen Khalil Reda Dawabsheh succumbed to his wounds after being shot by colonists during an attack on the village. pic.twitter.com/cHfdUg4Unl

— WAFA News Agency – English (@WAFANewsEnglish) August 13, 2025

According to the mayor of Duma, Palestinians in the town were “startled” by an Israeli settler attack, said Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim.

“The settlers started assaulting a 14-year-old, leading many Palestinian men to go and try to defend him,” Ibrahim said.

Later, more armed settlers arrived, and they started shooting at the Palestinians, resulting in the death of Dawabsheh, “whose only crime was being on his land”, she added.

Suleiman Dawabsheh, the head of the Duma village council, said that settlers attacked Palestinians and opened fire on them in the southern part of the village, amid land-levelling operations that have been taking place in the area for days, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Ibrahim said that Thamin Dawabsheh’s killing is part of a pattern of increased Israeli settler violence against Palestinians that is often filmed on camera.

“Every day, we stumble upon more videos showing how Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinians – intimidating them, shooting them, killing them. And they are not being held accountable by the Israeli authorities,” said Ibrahim.

The statement published by the Israeli army claimed dozens of Palestinians were hurling rocks towards the Israeli civilian and soldier, and “in response, the soldier fired to remove the threat, and a hit was identified”.

A deadly pattern of Israeli military, settler attacks

Recently, 31-year-old Palestinian activist and English teacher Awdah Hathaleen was shot dead by an Israeli settler on July 28 in the village of Umm al-Kheir, south of Hebron.

Hathaleen was well known for his activism, including helping the creators of the Oscar-winning film No Other Land, which documents Israeli settler and soldier attacks on the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta.

Israeli settlers, protected by the Israeli military, are often armed and fire at will against Palestinians who try to stop them. They attack residents and burn property with impunity, rarely if ever facing legal consequences.

The Israeli military has also been intensifying its deadly raids, home demolitions and displacement campaigns in the West Bank.

Violent attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the occupied West Bank have surged since October 2023, in tandem with Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, with the United Nations reporting that almost 650 Palestinians – including 121 children – have been killed in the territory by Israeli forces and settlers between January 1, 2024 and the start of July 2025.

A further 5,269 Palestinians were injured during that period, including 1,029 children.