The Independent reports that Likud leader, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday signed his party’s first coalition agreements, with Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu and the ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism (UTJ) both agreeing to join the new government. Kahlon will become Finance Minister as he looks to advance his party’s socio-economic agenda. Netanyahu must still recruit additional partners to meet the 7 May deadline to form a new workable government.

Both the Times and Independent cover the latest rescue efforts in Nepal, following Saturday’s devastating earthquake. They report that locals have clashed with Israeli tourists due to increasing desperation to evacuate, as Israeli insurance companies have sent helicopters to rescue the tourists from remote areas.

The Guardian online reports comments made by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif, during a talk yesterday at New York University, during which he suggested that Tehran’s leadership would accept waiting “a few weeks” for sanctions to be lifted following the signing of a potential long-term nuclear deal with the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany). The two sides last month agreed a framework to a deal, but have since disagreed on crucial details including the pace of sanctions relief. The Guardian online also says that Republican Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio has submitted an amendment to a Senate bill for oversight on the nascent deal. He has inserted a clause requiring Iran’s recognition of Israel’s right to exist.

The Financial Times online reports that Louay Hussein, a long-term mainstay of domestic Syrian opposition who has attempted to broker ceasefires between the Assad regime and opposition groups, has himself decided to leave the country to Spain. He commented that Assad’s forces too have become a “militia.”

In the Israeli media, the coalition agreements signed yesterday by Likud with Kulanu and UTJ take centre stage. It is the headline story in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Haaretz, which all focus on the implications of the agreements while it is also the lead item in Israel Hayom which proclaims that a new government is “on the way.” Israel Radio news says that the agreement with UTJ will effectively defang the previous government’s initiative to mandate the ultra-Orthodox draft and freeze attempts to reform the Jewish conversion process. Meanwhile, Israel Radio news comments that Kulanu’s agreement will allow it to effectively veto legislative initiatives to limit the power of the Supreme Court in favour of the Knesset, as being spearheaded by Jewish Home.

Meanwhile, a report in Maariv continues yesterday’s widely covered revelation that Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif is alive and active. This morning’s report says that Deif plans to boost the capability of Hamas commandos and increase the volume of rocket fire to complicate the response of the Iron Dome anti-missile system. It also claims that Deif had plans to paralyze the southern tourist city of Eilat with rocket fire.