The Times reports a claim by the Syrian government that its forces shot down an unmanned Israeli drone over the Syrian section of the Golan Heights. However, the Israeli army says that there is no record of a missing drone. In recent months, fighting from the Syrian Civil War has spilled over into Israel on several occasions.

The Financial Times includes a feature on tensions between the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, with the discord stalling the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip following Operation Protective Edge. Although billions of pounds has been pledged in international donations, “Fatah and Hamas have publicly bickered and failed to work together in Gaza,” despite an apparent agreement to reconcile their differences. Among the examples of such discord, the article says that Hamas recently allowed the supporters of Abbas’s exiled Fatah rival Mohammed Dahlan to rally in Gaza against Abbas.

In an interview with the Financial Times, a top Iranian security official said that diplomatic ties between Tehran and the United States will not be restored, despite the direct bilateral talks between the two countries over Iran’s nuclear programme. The official said that the nuclear talks are a standalone process unconnected to long term relations.

In the Israeli media, the top story in Maariv and Haaretz, also covered prominently by Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom, is a meeting yesterday between Antitrust Authority Director David Gilo and representatives of Delek Group and Noble Energy, who together are the controlling partners in Israel’s huge Leviathan and Tamar natural gas fields. The Antitrust Authority is apparently reconsidering allowing the two companies to act as an effective monopoly on the potentially lucrative energy fields in order to increase competition. Israel Radio news says that Gilo will decide soon on the issue.

The other major item this morning, which is the headline story in Israel Hayom, but also covered extensively by Yediot Ahronot and Maariv is the criticism levelled by former-President Shimon Peres at the government over poverty levels. A report issued yesterday by the non-profit Latet indicated that there are 2.5 million Israelis living in poverty, significantly more than the official figures of the National Insurance Institute. Peres said, “Hungry children and elderly cannot be fed with statements to the press.” In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party said that this was a “sneaky way of trying to shift votes from the Right to the Left, to make the concessions and the withdrawals that Peres has dreamed about for years.”