The Times and i report that more than 150 Rabbis from outside Israel have been put on a list disqualifying them from certifying the Jewishness of immigrants who wish to marry in the country. Drafted by the Chief Rabbinate, the blacklist includes Rabbis from 24 countries but primarily from the US and Canada.

The Times reports that a ceasefire in southern Syria brokered by the US and Russia appears to be holding after coming into effect at noon yesterday. PM Netanyahu yesterday welcomed a “genuine ceasefire” in Syria, but cautioned that it “must not enable the establishment of a military presence by Iran and its proxies in Syria”.

The Guardian reports on life in Gaza following the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) decision to stop paying for electricity to the Strip, in a move that “has quickly made him [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] a hate figure among many Gazans”. The article reports that residents are accustomed to having their lives defined by limited power, buying batteries and LED lights and “getting up in the middle of the night….to run washing machines or to turn water pumps”.

The Guardian reports on the emerging rapprochement between Hamas and exiled Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, whom Hamas ousted in 2007 when it took control of Gaza.  On the prospects of an alignment of interests between Dahlan, Hamas and Egypt the article notes the commentary of a Hamas diplomatic source: “They have a contradictory agenda… Dahlan wants to get into Gaza because without that he has no seat at the table in his struggle against Abbas…Hamas will make symbolic gestures, but in the end Gaza is all it has and it will not let go of it.”

The i reports that a survey conducted by Ipsos Mori has found Israel to be the 11^th most influential country in the world, two places below the US and one place above Iran.

The Daily Express reports that Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi flew to Mosul yesterday to declare victory over ISIS. The Prime Minister’s office stated: “the commander in chief of the armed forces arrived in the liberated city of Mosul and congratulated the heroic fighters and Iraqi people for the great victory.” The Iraqi forces are believed to have lost up to 40 per cent of their fighters in the struggle.

All Israel’s newspapers focus on today’s runoff election for the leadership of the Israeli Labour party between Amir Peretz and Avi Gabai. Yediot Ahronot characterises the race as being a choice between “the experienced politician and the surprise star,” whilst in Maariv, columnist Ben Caspit highlights the difficult choice for Labour members: likening the experienced and well-known Peretz to a “bird in the hand,” and the newcomer Gabai to “two in the bush”.

All the front pages also continue to follow a months-long dispute over the child oncology unit at Hadassah hospital. Israel’s High Court yesterday rejected a proposal favoured by parents of the unit’s patients to open an alternative unit at another Jerusalem hospital.

Israeli broadcasters broke the story this morning of a major development in “Case 3000”, a police investigation involving close associates of Prime Minister Netanyahu, also known as the “submarines affair”. Six individuals were brought in for questioning by police this morning over whether there was corruption involved in a deal for Israel to buy submarines from German supplier ThyssenKrupp.

Israel’s broadcast media also continues to air reports originating in Arab media about negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a prisoner exchange deal. Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of two IDF servicemen killed in 2014 and up to three Israeli civilians. Kan Radio quotes Palestinian sources and the London based Al-Hayat newspaper that negotiations are being conducted through Egyptian intermediaries. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman is quoted in today’s Israel Hayom as dismissing the reports as “part of the psychological warfare being waged by Hamas”.  Israel Hayom also reports that US peace envoy Jason Greenblatt is returning to the region today.

In other news, Yediot Ahronot has a major front page story on the poor state of shelters for battered women.

Inside Yediot Ahronot, the paper reports on a proposal from two Likud MKs to annex several West Bank settlements close to Jerusalem, and remove several Arab neighbourhoods from the city’s municipal borders, in what is interpreted as part of a bidding war with the Jewish Home party for support on the Israeli right.

In other news Haaretz reports that PM Netanyahu ordered Israel’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs to withdraw criticism of the Hungarian government for what is perceived to be an antisemitic poster campaign against Hungarian born Jewish-American investor George Soros, who is a harsh critic of the Orban government. Netanyahu is due to visit Hungary later this month.

The Jerusalem Post reports on the release under a freedom of information request of a controversial list compiled by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate of blacklisted Rabbis around the world, including many Orthodox rabbis, whose authority and rulings it rejects.