The Times and Independent cover the last-minute coalition negotiations between Likud and Jewish Home, as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approaches a midnight deadline to present a workable government to President Reuven Rivlin. Netanyahu’s coalition plans were significantly complicated on Monday when Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman announced that his party would not join a new government. Both publications say that Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett yesterday increased his coalition demands in the knowledge that his party’s participation is needed for Netanyahu to even form a slim single-seat majority. Bennett has now requested that he become Foreign or Defence Minister with his deputy Ayelet Shaked as Justice Minister.

The Guardian reports that a letter from former-Prime Minister Tony Blair was used yesterday in a Jerusalem court to vouch for the character of Israel’s former-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The court is deliberating its sentence for Olmert over a corruption conviction known as the Talansky affair. Olmert already faces a prison sentence over a separate bribery case.

The Telegraph and Independent i report that the singer and performer Lauryn Hill has cancelled a show in Israel, as she has been unable to also arrange a concert in the West Bank. She said she did not want to be “misconstrued” or become a “source of alienation” to Israeli or Palestinian fans.

The Times says that Salafi Islamists in the Gaza Strip have bombed Hamas’s security headquarters and is demanding that Hamas releases prisoners from its group. The Independent i reports that Hamas has subsequently launched a crackdown against the Salafists.

The online editions of the Guardian and Telegraph both cover an Amnesty International report which accuses Syrian President Assad’s regime of “unthinkable atrocities” in the Aleppo region, especially regarding the use of indiscriminate barrel bombs against the civilian population. Meanwhile, the Independent online reports that the United States says that airstrikes it led in Syria on Thursday killed 50 ISIS fighters. However, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that only civilians were killed in the attacks.

The online editions of the Guardian and Independent both cover reports in the Iranian media that authorities in Tehran have banned spiky haircuts, tattoos and plucked eyebrows for men, deeming them “un-Islamic.”

The Independent i and the Guardian online both report that the oldest complete set of the Ten Commandments, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls collection, has been put on display for the first time at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

In the Israeli media, the headlines are dominated by the last minute coalition negotiations between Likud and Jewish Home. It is the top story in Maariv, Haaretz which emphasises the demand that Jewish Home number two Ayelet Shaked become Justice Minister, Yediot Ahronot and in Israel Hayom which describes “Arm-twisting to the last moment.” Writing in Maariv, Ben Caspit suggests all manner of political intrigue as a result of yesterday’s developments. He suggests that Jewish Home has even been in touch with Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog over a “social government,” while Caspit predicts that Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon will be the loser in the final coalition make-up as the slim majority will make it virtually impossible for him to carry out intended reforms.

Maariv and Yediot Ahronot both highlight the publication yesterday of the State Comptroller’s report, which was critical of the government over food waste, benefits, education and in particular neglect of the country’s peripheral regions.

Israel Radio news reports that oil may have been discovered on the Golan Heights. Genie Energy reported to shareholders that drilling in the area had found hydrocarbons, which could be an indicator of larger oil reserves.