The Independent i reports that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot over comments he made last week, which were criticised by right-wing politicians as a possible veiled criticism of some security officers in handling the current wave of Palestinian violence. However, Netanyahu told his cabinet yesterday that such condemnation was “hollow” and that Eizenkot’s call for soldiers and police to be wary before opening fire is “stating the obvious.”

The Guardian online covers a meeting in Jordan’s capital Amman yesterday between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. Kerry urged calm and a decrease in violence in the region, also requesting a reduction in incitement. Israeli leaders have accused the PA and in particular Abbas of stoking the recent violence with incendiary rhetoric.

The Independent online covers comments by a United Nations’ official, who said that Israel has dismantled or confiscated 283 Palestinian homes so far in 2016, mostly for illegal building in the West Bank.

A separate item in the Independent online reports that Israeli film maker Udi Aloni, who won an award at the Berlin Film Festival, has criticised the Israeli government and Germany’s warm relations with it.

The Independent online also includes an opinion article by the PA representative in London, who condemns an invitation by the Inter-Parliamentary Union to Yuli Edelstein, the Speaker of the Knesset, to speak in Westminster. Because Edelstein lives in a West Bank community, the PA representative says that the invitation amounts to an endorsement of Israeli West Bank settlement.

In the Guardian, readers’ editor Chris Elliott examines accusations of biased reporting regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although he rejects the claims, he says that a “note to editing staff” was sent requesting “greater context” to headlines and subheadings. In addition, he says that online headlines often “need to avoid oversimplification.”

The Metro and Independent i both report that Lebanon’s Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi has resigned over what he describes as Hezbollah’s “domination” of government, harming the country’s relations with other Arab states.

In Syria, where Hezbollah is a stalwart ally of President Assad, opposition groups have apparently agreed to a temporary ceasefire on condition that Russia end its air strikes, according to the Guardian online. Meanwhile, Assad himself is quoted in the online editions of the Telegraph and Guardian saying that he wants to be remembered as the man who saved Syria. Both publications, plus the online editions of the Financial Times and Independent report that ISIS claimed responsibility for bombings yesterday in Homs and Damascus, killing more than 140 people.

In the Israeli media, Yediot Ahronot focuses on the backing given by Prime Minister Netanyahu to IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, who attended yesterday’s cabinet meeting. Military affairs correspondent Yossi Yehoshua praised Eizenkot for acting responsibly, “While the politicians compete with one another over who posts most inflammatory status on Facebook.” He notes that two attempted stabbings in the West Bank yesterday were thwarted without shots being fired and “the result was an arrested, not a killed, terrorist, with no emotional funeral, no bereaved family to join the circle of terror and promising to avenge the death of its son.”

Maariv leads with a story claiming that an ammonia plant in Haifa will not be strengthened or relocated until 2020, despite Hezbollah’s threat last week to strike the facility and cause hundreds of thousands of casualties in the vicinity. Israel’s Environment Minister Avi Gabbay had said that plans were already underway to move the plant.

Meanwhile, Israel Radio reports that a large-scale joint military exercise between Israeli and American troops is underway. The drill, involving 1,700 American soldiers, will attempt to strengthen defences against ballistic missile threats.