NUR SHAMS REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank watched as Israeli military bulldozers pulled down their homes Wednesday as part of a nearly year-long incursion into the territory's northern refugee camps.
The scene in Nur Shams has been repeated often across the northern West Bank in the roughly 11 months since Israeli troops launched operation “Iron Wall” there in early 2025. During that time, the military has demolished or heavily damaged at least 850 structures across the refugee camps of Nur Shams, Jenin and Tulkarem, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by Human Rights Watch.
Click to Gallery
People watch an Israeli army bulldozer demolishing homes in the Palestinian urban refugee camp of Nur Shams, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
An Israeli army bulldozer demolishes homes in the Palestinian urban refugee camp of Nur Shams, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
An Israeli army bulldozer demolishes homes in the Palestinian urban refugee camp of Nur Shams, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
People watch an Israeli army bulldozer demolishing homes in the Palestinian urban refugee camp of Nur Shams, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Troops have also forced out the camps' populations, leading to the largest displacement in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in 1967. Tens of thousands of residents are living with relatives, cramming into rental apartments or living in public buildings.
Israel says the operation aims to root out armed groups and says the demolitions are needed to destroy militant infrastructure or to clear routes for troops.
Israel has said its troops will stay in some camps for a year, and its unclear when, if ever, Palestinians will be able to return.
Rights groups and Palestinians say the raids are destroying homes. AP video showed bulldozers tearing down several houses out of a total of 25 the military said it planned to demolish.
“Our home is dear to us, the memories are dear to us, the family, the neighbors, and the good people are dear to us,” said Motaz Mohor, whose home was set to be destroyed as he watched the bulldozers. “The first time our grandparents were displaced, and this is the second time.”
His grandparents had moved to Nur Shams after their original displacement from the cities of Jaffa and Haifa during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, when some 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes by forces of the nascent state or fled as troops advanced, an event Palestinians call the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”
Mohor said he was sheltering with roughly 25 of his relatives in a 100-square-meter (1,070-square-foot) apartment after being displaced from the camp.
The military said troops had allowed residents to get their belongings from homes beforehand. It said it had only taken down structures where there existed a “a clear and necessary operational need” and after examining alternate courses of action.
The military said the camp was still an area of militant activity even almost a year after the start of the operation and that troops had located explosives in the camp within the last month.
Ahmed al Sayyes, 60, said his home was also slated for demolition. He was surprised to wake up and see the bulldozers beginning work.
“It’s very difficult and painful,” he said. He said the house where he is sheltering is for sale and he'll have to leave it. “It’s a tragedy after tragedy. Very difficult. Only God knows where we will end up.”
People watch an Israeli army bulldozer demolishing homes in the Palestinian urban refugee camp of Nur Shams, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
An Israeli army bulldozer demolishes homes in the Palestinian urban refugee camp of Nur Shams, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
An Israeli army bulldozer demolishes homes in the Palestinian urban refugee camp of Nur Shams, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
People watch an Israeli army bulldozer demolishing homes in the Palestinian urban refugee camp of Nur Shams, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones blasted apartment buildings and the power grid in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa in an overnight attack that injured six people, including a toddler and two other children, officials said Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed confidence in his country’s eventual victory in the nearly four-year war against its neighbor.
Four apartment buildings were damaged in the Odesa bombardment, according to regional military administration head Oleh Kiper. The DTEK power provider said two of its energy facilities had significant damage. The company said 10 substations that distribute electricity in the region have been damaged in December.
Russia has escalated attacks on urban areas of Ukraine. As its invasion approaches a four-year milestone in February, it has also intensified targeting of energy infrastructure, seeking to deny Ukrainians heat and running water in the bitter winter months.
Between January and November, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured, the United Nations said earlier in December. That was 26% higher than in the same period in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023, it said.
There are renewed diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday and announced that a settlement is “closer than ever before." The Ukrainian leader is due to hold talks next week with European leaders supporting his efforts to secure acceptable terms.
Despite progress in peace negotiations, which he didn't mention, Putin reaffirmed his belief in Russia’s eventual success in its invasion during his traditional New Year’s address.
He gave special praise to Russian troops deployed in Ukraine, describing them as heroes “fighting for your native land, truth and justice.”
“We believe in you and our victory,” Putin said, as cited by Russian state news agency Tass.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 86 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russian regions, the Black Sea and the illegally annexed Crimea peninsula.
Russia’s Defense Ministry released a video of a downed drone that it said was one of 91 Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack this week on a Putin residence in northwestern Russia, a claim Kyiv has denied as a “lie.”
The nighttime video showed a man in camouflage, a helmet and a Kevlar vest standing near a damaged drone lying in snow. The man, his face covered, talks about the drone. Neither the man nor the Defense Ministry provided any location or date.
The video and claims could not be independently verified.
Kyiv has denied the allegations of an attack on Putin’s lakeside country residence and called them a ruse to derail progress in peace negotiations.
Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation said Wednesday that the images could not be considered evidence of the attack as the origin of the damaged drone, as well as the time and location of the video itself, remained unknown.
“It took Russia more than two days to fabricate this ‘evidence’. The photographs of metal fragments laid out on the snow, published by the Russian Defense Ministry, do not prove anything in themselves,” the center said in a statement on its website.
“There is no video of air defense operations in the area of the residence, no recorded drone crashes in the claimed locations and no consistency even in its own figures, which have changed repeatedly.”
Maj. Gen. Alexander Romanenkov of the Russian air force claimed that the drones took off from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions. At a briefing where no questions were allowed, he presented a map showing the drone flight routes before they allegedly were downed by Russian air defenses over the Bryansk, Tver, Smolensk and Novgorod regions.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, called the Russian allegations “a deliberate distraction” from peace talks.
Zelenskyy said Romania and Croatia are the latest countries to join a fund that buys weapons for Ukraine from the United States.
The financial arrangement, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase U.S. weapons, munitions and equipment.
Since it was established in August, 24 countries are now contributing to the fund, according to Zelenskyy. The fund has received $4.3 billion, with almost $1.5 billion coming in December, he said on social media.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Security Service carried out a drone strike on a major Russian fuel storage facility in the northwestern Yaroslavl region early Tuesday, according to a Ukrainian security official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Long-range drones struck the Temp oil depot in the city of Rybinsk, part of Russia’s state fuel reserve system, the official told The Associated Press. Rybinsk is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
A previous version of this story was corrected to give the timing of the alleged attack on Putin's residence as late Sunday and early Monday.
Katie Marie Davies in Leicester, England, contributed to this story.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This image made from undated video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, shows a downed drone at an undisclosed location that it said was one of the Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack on a residence of President Vladimir Putin this week – a claim Kyiv has denied as a "lie". (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
This image made from undated video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, shows a downed drone at an undisclosed location that it said was one of the Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack on a residence of President Vladimir Putin this week – a claim Kyiv has denied as a "lie". (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
This image made from undated video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, shows a man in camouflage standing by a downed drone at an undisclosed location that it said was one of the Ukrainian drones involved in an alleged attack on a residence of President Vladimir Putin this week – a claim Kyiv has denied as a "lie". (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, a Russian Army soldier fires from D-30 howitzer towards Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
