diff --git a/Makefile.rhelver b/Makefile.rhelver
index 17abaa63f..0367a6d63 100644
--- a/Makefile.rhelver
+++ b/Makefile.rhelver
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ RHEL_MINOR = 9
 #
 # Use this spot to avoid future merge conflicts.
 # Do not trim this comment.
-RHEL_RELEASE = 695
+RHEL_RELEASE = 696
 
 #
 # ZSTREAM
diff --git a/kernel.changelog b/kernel.changelog
index f76263489..37de66b20 100644
--- a/kernel.changelog
+++ b/kernel.changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,29 @@
+* Tue Apr 21 2026 CKI KWF Bot <cki-ci-bot+kwf-gitlab-com@redhat.com> [5.14.0-696.el9]
+- mm/page_alloc: add vm.thp_thisnode_reclaim sysctl to allow THP reclaim on local node (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm/page_alloc: simplify __alloc_pages_slowpath() flow (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm/page_alloc: refactor the initial compaction handling (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm/page_alloc: ignore the exact initial compaction result (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm, page_alloc, thp: prevent reclaim for __GFP_THISNODE THP allocations (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm/page_alloc.c: avoid infinite retries caused by cpuset race (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm: warn about illegal __GFP_NOFAIL usage in a more appropriate location and manner (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm: document __GFP_NOFAIL must be blockable (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- KVM: arm64: Discard PC update state on vcpu reset (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Fix vma_shift staleness on nested hwpoison path (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: nv: Report addrsz fault at level 0 with a bad VTTBR.BADDR (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: nv: Check S2 limits based on implemented PA size (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: pkvm: Fallback to level-3 mapping on host stage-2 fault (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Eagerly init vgic dist/redist on vgic creation (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: nv: Add trap config for DBGWCR<15>_EL1 (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Fix Trace Buffer trapping for protected VMs (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Fix EL2 S1 XN handling for hVHE setups (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Move pagetable definitions to common header (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Remove ISB after writing FPEXC32_EL2 (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Fix comment in fpsimd_lazy_switch_to_host() (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Use kvzalloc() for kvm struct allocation (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Drop useless __GFP_HIGHMEM from kvm struct allocation (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Prevent access to vCPU events before init (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+Resolves: RHEL-148561, RHEL-154746
+
 * Thu Apr 16 2026 CKI KWF Bot <cki-ci-bot+kwf-gitlab-com@redhat.com> [5.14.0-695.el9]
 - iommu/ipmmu-vmsa: fix device leak on of_xlate() (Jerry Snitselaar) [RHEL-147906]
 - of/device: Fix up of_dma_configure_id() stub (Jerry Snitselaar) [RHEL-147906]
diff --git a/kernel.spec b/kernel.spec
index 07a20878c..adefa681d 100644
--- a/kernel.spec
+++ b/kernel.spec
@@ -176,15 +176,15 @@ Summary: The Linux kernel
 # define buildid .local
 %define specversion 5.14.0
 %define patchversion 5.14
-%define pkgrelease 695
+%define pkgrelease 696
 %define kversion 5
-%define tarfile_release 5.14.0-695.el9
+%define tarfile_release 5.14.0-696.el9
 # This is needed to do merge window version magic
 %define patchlevel 14
 # This allows pkg_release to have configurable %%{?dist} tag
-%define specrelease 695%{?buildid}%{?dist}
+%define specrelease 696%{?buildid}%{?dist}
 # This defines the kabi tarball version
-%define kabiversion 5.14.0-695.el9
+%define kabiversion 5.14.0-696.el9
 
 #
 # End of genspec.sh variables
@@ -3715,6 +3715,31 @@ fi
 #
 #
 %changelog
+* Tue Apr 21 2026 CKI KWF Bot <cki-ci-bot+kwf-gitlab-com@redhat.com> [5.14.0-696.el9]
+- mm/page_alloc: add vm.thp_thisnode_reclaim sysctl to allow THP reclaim on local node (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm/page_alloc: simplify __alloc_pages_slowpath() flow (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm/page_alloc: refactor the initial compaction handling (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm/page_alloc: ignore the exact initial compaction result (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm, page_alloc, thp: prevent reclaim for __GFP_THISNODE THP allocations (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm/page_alloc.c: avoid infinite retries caused by cpuset race (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm: warn about illegal __GFP_NOFAIL usage in a more appropriate location and manner (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- mm: document __GFP_NOFAIL must be blockable (Nico Pache) [RHEL-148561]
+- KVM: arm64: Discard PC update state on vcpu reset (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Fix vma_shift staleness on nested hwpoison path (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: nv: Report addrsz fault at level 0 with a bad VTTBR.BADDR (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: nv: Check S2 limits based on implemented PA size (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: pkvm: Fallback to level-3 mapping on host stage-2 fault (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Eagerly init vgic dist/redist on vgic creation (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: nv: Add trap config for DBGWCR<15>_EL1 (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Fix Trace Buffer trapping for protected VMs (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Fix EL2 S1 XN handling for hVHE setups (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Move pagetable definitions to common header (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Remove ISB after writing FPEXC32_EL2 (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Fix comment in fpsimd_lazy_switch_to_host() (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Use kvzalloc() for kvm struct allocation (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Drop useless __GFP_HIGHMEM from kvm struct allocation (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+- KVM: arm64: Prevent access to vCPU events before init (Eric Auger) [RHEL-154746]
+
 * Thu Apr 16 2026 CKI KWF Bot <cki-ci-bot+kwf-gitlab-com@redhat.com> [5.14.0-695.el9]
 - iommu/ipmmu-vmsa: fix device leak on of_xlate() (Jerry Snitselaar) [RHEL-147906]
 - of/device: Fix up of_dma_configure_id() stub (Jerry Snitselaar) [RHEL-147906]
diff --git a/sources b/sources
index 09d3b50be..fda750e74 100644
--- a/sources
+++ b/sources
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-SHA512 (linux-5.14.0-695.el9.tar.xz) = 447e6b01894f31e621b1ec05d54501053b2b4538c898fcd347eb4d62661337f185c8b99d71ceed5f4aa12d4a37a0b7fbc8b3397da3f3d18480dae48bd5f6df06
-SHA512 (kernel-abi-stablelists-5.14.0-695.el9.tar.bz2) = 6abcff9e130f18818a54fb886e70bb3568ee52d058e88fb85bb06133489ba5d89510c6ea26d78ab02244cacefcbd0a13e229925a4bfb744a9042944d66d58ff3
-SHA512 (kernel-kabi-dw-5.14.0-695.el9.tar.bz2) = 26eaa92c555698239ec646feaa97764f3ef94842e75daac22f70981763699737e5630e455951d33e4ec62f31342877a9b60a2aa0e81640c6addf055ade45f197
+SHA512 (linux-5.14.0-696.el9.tar.xz) = c19a2f8873f50e6ad062ef8124119839fb6f6f098dc7974b4e99e7b3830865a42f433a38e9b03f991c8e7a08f93865289b95776e4ec597ff6ca332ba303cfce3
+SHA512 (kernel-abi-stablelists-5.14.0-696.el9.tar.bz2) = 24ebdfe1e0096d5023b32f1014f0ae02a1087621cf0cebee75ff69d6fad404e306ee8624ae39e638bd2e0503771c9053cd7acf875a36ce241312877d9da02bfc
+SHA512 (kernel-kabi-dw-5.14.0-696.el9.tar.bz2) = 6c7bae7bf8b8d1958ce01e0ae9e6b48c4a4d67450ac9c75cb50ef415a4bf6146ec7851b09c8641bdfbfe541d8e9e05624dbed24914b45181355d35736472d6b5