The Financial Times podcast, the Guardian and the Times report on the Egyptian election. The final day of voting in Egypt’s presidential elections was marred by accusations of widespread intimidation by the authorities, some of whom offered incentives to try to boost the turnout. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi needs a high turnout to bolster the credibility of his inevitable win in what most believe is a ballot heavily rigged in his favour. Voting is compulsory and failure to do so can result in a fine of about £20, but despite the election commission’s claim that participation had been “heavy”, many polling stations have appeared largely deserted. Last week al-Sisi urged all Egyptians to vote, saying the “entire world” needed to see them in the streets. Across several southern governorates, including Assiut, Sohag and Minya, witnesses said police had been going door to door to urge people to get out to the polls. In Dakhaliya, in the Nile Delta, a worker at a state hospital said the management had used ambulances to ferry people to polling stations. Elsewhere health ministry officials had scolded and threatened staff who did not have ink on their fingers to show they had cast a ballot. “They said the names of people without ink would be sent to the ministry and they would be relocated to hospital postings even further away from their villages,” one hospital employee said. Young people have been a rare sight at polling stations. Almost 61 per cent of Egypt’s population is under 30, yet voters from that demographic were almost impossible to find. With voter numbers in doubt, the Egyptian authorities continued their push for a high turnout. The governor of Beheira in the Nile Delta declared that districts with the highest turnout would be rewarded with upgraded water and sanitation infrastructure.

The Telegraph reports that a British landmine charity has begun clearing thousands of explosives from the site believed to be where Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan. The site is the third holiest spot in Christianity after his birthplace in Bethlehem and the site of his crucifixion in Jerusalem, but for more than 50 years, pilgrims’ access to the site and seven desert churches nearby has been severely limited by a lethal array of landmines and booby traps laid by Israeli forces. This week, experts from the Halo Trust, a UK charity committed to demining, started work to clear the explosives and make the site safe for Christian visitors once more. The Israeli government has provided half of the funding for the $1.15m (£814,000), with the rest of the funding coming from Christian churches and private donors. Israeli troops planted approximately 3,000 explosives around the churches after the 1967 war to stop Palestinian insurgents from using the site to launch raids from Jordan.

The BBC programme Witness conducted an interview in Wahat al-Salam, Neve Shalom – meaning “oasis of peace” – which was founded by four families, Jews and Arabs, on a hill-top between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It was a pioneering experiment in peaceful co-existence in the long Middle East conflict. Four decades on, it is now home to more than 60 families. Two of its long-standing residents, Nava Sonnenschein and Daoud Boulus, were interviewed to discuss life in the village.

The Daily Express, the Sun, the Daily Mail and the Times continue to report allegations of antisemitism levelled against Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the demonstration that followed. It was reported that Jeremy Corbyn has been revealed to belong to two additional antisemitic Facebook groups, bringing the total to five. One, called Jeremy Corbyn Leads Us To VICTORY, includes posts about the Rothschilds, a Jewish family often criticised in antisemitic conspiracy claiming that Jews control world finance. Members compared Israel to the Nazis, and one comments about “Antichrist Zionist Rothschild Jews”. Pro-Corbyn activists have targeted for deselection Labour MPs who attended a demonstration against antisemitism in the party this week. David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, was criticised on Facebook for joining the rally outside parliament.

The Times, the Guardian, the New Statesman , the Independent, BBC News Online, Huffpost, the Telegraph and ITV News reports that a prominent ally of Jeremy Corbyn resigned as head of Labour’s disputes panel last night after she was revealed to have defended a council candidate who posted an article calling the Holocaust a hoax. Christine Shawcroft, 62, a senior figure in the grassroots group Momentum, attacked Labour staff by email for suspending Alan Bull. He had also allegedly shared a post suggesting that Israel and Isis worked together, and one claiming that President John F Kennedy was murdered by Mossad, according to the Jewish News, which printed the images. Bull said they were “doctored screenshots”.

The Independent, Daily Express and the Daily Mail via AP report that two planes collided at Ben Gurion airport in Israel, causing “heavy damage” but no casualties. The tail end of a German aircraft crashed into the tail end of an Israeli plane, the Israel Airports Authority said. Spokesman Ofer Lefler said “heavy damage was caused, mainly to the German plane”.

The Independent and the Daily Mail via AFP report that Israel’s military has deployed more than 100 snipers on the Gaza Strip border ahead of planned mass Palestinian protests, the country’s top general said in an interview. Organisers said they expect thousands in Gaza, including entire families, to answer the call for protests on Friday symbolically linked to what Palestinians call “Land Day”. Large crowds are expected to gather in tent cities in five locations along the sensitive border in a six-week protest for the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel. Citing security concerns, the Israeli military enforces a “no-go” zone for Palestinians on land in Gaza adjacent to Israel’s border fence. The Daily Mail via AP reports that Gaza’s embattled Hamas rulers are imploring people to march along the border with Israel in the coming weeks in a risky gambit meant to shore up their shaky rule, but with potentially deadly consequences. Beginning Friday, Hamas hopes it can mobilise large crowds to set up tent camps near the border. It plans a series of demonstrations culminating with a march to the border fence on 15 May, the anniversary of Israel’s establishment, known to Palestinians as “the Nakba,” or catastrophe.

The Times reports that Saudi Arabia has announced a $200bn plan to build the world’s biggest solar-power project, which would end the country’s dependence on oil. The project, which would result in panels taking up vast tracts of the desert equivalent to a million football pitches, has been secured by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and could mark a change in the world’s environmental management. Under the terms of the arrangement, solar-power plants would supply enough electricity not only for Saudi Arabia but much of the Middle East. In doing so it would allow the country to export more oil for money and, it is claimed, help in the spread of renewable, low-carbon energy worldwide.

The Daily Express reports that Christians from Gaza are facing a ban from Jerusalem over Easter, with one worshipper pleading with officials: “We have to have access to the Holy Land, free access to our holy places.” Israel had previously warned this year it would only grant permits to those aged 55 or older but even these have not yet been forthcoming. The lack of permits, despite more than 600 applications from the Strip’s 1,000 or so Christians, has been met with despair and anger among Gaza’s Christian community.

The Daily Express reports that during the past 70 years, the Royal Family has never officially visited Israel. However, there have been multiple occasions in which The Duke of Edinburgh has broken this rule. According to the Independent, the Foreign Office feared that allowing a member of the royal family to set foot in the country back in 1994 would be viewed as condoning the occupation of the West Bank. which the UK deemed illegal. The Prince arrived in the country back in 1994 to attend a Yad Vashem ceremony honouring his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it is “very disturbed” by online attacks on an anti-racism activist in Poland that followed criticism by a government official. Rafal Pankowski, head of the Never Again Association, gave a presentation last week at the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem, in which he described examples of antisemitic rhetoric in Poland that have accompanied a controversial new Holocaust speech law. Afterwards, Andrzej Pawluszek, an adviser to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, said on Twitter that Pankowski had “attacked his own country”. Pankowski has since been denounced as a traitor and threatened in online comments. Israel’s Foreign Ministry was “very disturbed to see the antisemitic attacks on Rafal in Poland, following the tweet by the Adviser of Poland’s Prime Minister,” spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted Wednesday. “This is not the way to deal with antisemitism – in Poland or anywhere!”

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Israel’s El Al airline said it appealed on Wednesday to the Supreme Court to cancel the authorisation of direct Air India flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv via Saudi airspace. The Indian carrier began using the new route on 22 March, reducing flight times between the two cities by more than two hours. Saudi Arabia had previously banned flights over its territory bound for Israel, a country with which Riyadh has no official diplomatic relations. Saudi Arabia has so far not allowed Israeli airlines to use its airspace, and El Al says it is the victim of unfair competition.

All the Israeli media is focused on Gaza. Yediot Ahronoth leads with “the fence failure” while Haaretz headlines that “the great march in Gaza is tomorrow: IDF increasing forces next to border” and Israel Hayom quoting senior IDF officers saying: “We will not allow Hamas to ruin the Pesach Seder”.

Kan Radio reports on an interview given by Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai to the Alhurra Arab television network: “The Israeli response will be strong and not just against demonstrators. We contacted more than 20 bus companies in Gaza that received money from Hamas to transport people to the violent protests and we warned them that steps would be taken personally against the owners of the companies.” Mordechai stressed that “Hamas has failed – failed economically, failed in running Gaza, failed in the reconciliation agreement, and also failed in the terrorist military project when it invested all its millions underground in tunnels”.

Israel Hayom quotes a Hamas official who said that “Hamas military wing members will be deployed at the staging area near Khan Yunis and will act as a buffer between the Palestinians and the border fence. Our order to the organisers is that the protestors be prevented from crossing the 800-meter line from the fence. We will allow them to protest 800 meters away from the fence, but we will not allow them to march towards the fence and we made that clear to the organisers.”

Mako reports that new instructions have been given to residents of the communities on the front line in the Gaza periphery for anyone who owns a gun to carry it with them throughout the day tomorrow. The goal is to ensure that the civilian population will be able to help serve as reinforcements in the event that the worst-case scenario plays out and Palestinians succeed in entering Israeli communities.

In an analysis in Maariv, Tal Lev Ram writes that “as difficult as it is to anticipate what tomorrow’s events tomorrow will be, past experience teaches us that usually, the major events in the Gaza Strip that are preceded by extensive preparations end up being far smaller than anticipated”. At the same time, he argues that “actually, the real danger is something that has been on the margins of the media coverage in the last few days: either lone wolf terrorists who might set out to stage attacks without prior intelligence in the West Bank and/or East Jerusalem, or organised guerrilla operations by one of the terror organisations in the Gaza Strip”.

Maariv’s front page headlines that “France remembers murdered Holocaust survivor”.

Maariv reports comments from the US Ambassador against Mohamoud Abbas, who said that “if Abbas won’t negotiate with us, his replacement will”.

 YNet reports that France, Britain and Germany sought on Wednesday to persuade their EU partners to back new sanctions on Iran to preserve a nuclear deal with Tehran. The new measures proposed by London, Paris and Berlin were discussed by the EU’s 28 ambassadors and could include members of Iran’s most powerful security force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Four diplomats are quoted as saying that the three pushed for agreement on possible travel bans and asset freezes before a foreign ministers’ meeting next month.

The Times of Israel reports that UK Jewish leaders have refused to meet Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn until he meets a list of conditions including appointing an independent commission to tackle antisemitism in the party.

The Jerusalem Post reports comments by a senior Israeli official who says that Hamas and Iran are the closest they have been since the beginning of the Syrian war.