Reuters and the Daily Mail report that a Palestinian teenager was killed close to the Gaza border fence. Reuters reports Gaza health officials said a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops during a border protest hit him in the head. A Gaza health ministry spokesman said the incident had occurred close to the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip and that 24 people had been wounded. The Daily Mail reports that thousands protested on Wednesday near the border as part of a months-long campaign organised by Gaza’s Hamas rulers demanding an end to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The Telegraph reports that Britain has halted aid to Idlib following reports an Islamist group was benefiting from levies they were imposing on trucks at the Turkish border. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a militant group with links to al-Qaeda and sanctioned by the UN, controls much of the northwestern province of Idlib including the main Bab al-Hawa crossing between Syria and Turkey. The Department for International Development (DfID) made the decision in conjunction with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Islamist rebels tax 5,000-7,000 trucks a month entering Syria from Turkey, according to one assessment which estimated they raise around £2.8 million a month.

Reuters reports that an Israeli official said Russia’s S-300 missile system could be defeated by Israel’s stealth fighters and possibly destroyed on the ground. Asked in an interview if the Syrian acquisition of the S-300 would clip the Israeli military’s wings, Tzachi Hanegbi, the regional cooperation minister and a non-voting member of its security cabinet, said: “Unequivocally, no.” “The operational abilities of the air force are such that those (S-300) batteries really do not constrain the air force’s abilities to act,” he told Israel’s Army Radio. Referring to F-35 Joint Strike Fighters that Israel began receiving from the United States over a year ago, Hanegbi said: “You know that we have stealth fighters, the best planes in the world. These batteries are not even able to detect them.”

The Express reports that German Chancellor Merkel suffered a sharp rebuke from Israeli officials ahead of her arrival in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, and was warned not to interfere in Israel’s internal policies regarding the dismantlement of Palestinian Bedouin settlements. The German leader was warned by Israel’s Culture Minister, Miri Regev, not to bring up the fate of Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin village in the West Bank which Israel plans to dismantle. She said: “I advise her to deal with internal problems of her own country.”

The Telegraph and the Independent report that the UN court has ordered the US to lift Iranian sanctions which affect humanitarian aid. The Telegraph reports that the UN’s highest court handed Iran a legal victory over the US on Wednesday when it ordered the White House to roll back some of Donald Trump’s sanctions on Tehran. Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled unanimously that parts of the sanctions the US imposed on Iran in May were illegal and must be removed. The Iranian government hailed the ruling as proof that “Iran is in the right” but the US said it was not bound by the court’s decision and would not ease sanctions. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said he was “disappointed that the court failed to recognise that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions measures.” The BBC reports that the US is to end the Treaty of Amity which was used by Tehran as a basis for a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Iran took the US to court after it re-imposed sanctions on the back of abandoning a nuclear deal in May. Iran argued that decision violated the terms of the 1955 Treaty of Amity. The treaty was signed in 1955 to regulate commercial relations, and both sides used it since to take each other to court.

In The Telegraph, Raf Sanchez and Abu Bakr Bashir have written an article profiling the Hamas leaders in Gaza titled: ‘Why hardline Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is gambling on an unlikely truce with Israel’ They comment that “The odds of securing a Hamas-Israel truce are slim. But if a deal can be made it would be the biggest shift in the Gaza stand-off in years – and a chance to break a deadlock that has so far led to three wars and vast human misery.” They add that “Sinwar is now focusing on securing a long-term truce with Israel. He hopes his threats of mass protests and fire kites from Gaza will be enough to bring Israel to the negotiating table without starting an all-out war.”

In the Israeli media, Yediot Ahronot leads with extracts from an interview of Yahya Sinwar by Italian journalist Francesa Borri. The paper will publish the full interview tomorrow.  Sinwar is quoted saying, “A new war is not in anybody’s interest. Certainly not ours. Who wants to confront a nuclear power with four slingshots? You achieve nothing through war.” Adding, “I’m not saying I won’t fight anymore. I’m saying that I don’t want any more wars. What I do want is to end the siege. My first commitment is to take actions that are in my people’s best interests. To defend them, to defend their right to freedom and independence.”   The paper also publishes a prominent explanation by Ben-Dror Yemini on why they commissioned and printed an interview with one of Israel’s main enemies. The paper justifies their decision, “If it helps Israel’s interests, if it will save lives, if it will bring real quiet to the towns of the south, then we must even speak with the devil… But that does not mean that we should not offer Hamas a generous deal, which is based on lifting the siege and prosperity, in exchange for the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip… We must never forget who and what Hamas is and who and what its leader, Yahya Sinwar, is. However, when the leader of Hamas in Gaza seeks to make his voice heard to the reading public in Israel, we should not refuse to publish what he says.”

Haaretz reports that Qatar intends to finance the purchase of fuel for Gaza’s power plant. “The arrangement, which is supposed to go into effect in the coming days, will allow a significant increase in the supply of power to Gaza residents. Israel hopes that this development, which should provide an immediate improvement to residents’ daily lives, will reduce the risk of military confrontation with Hamas. The paper notes, “Gaza now gets around four hours of electricity a day. The Qatari aid, estimated to be tens of millions of dollars, aims to raise the average to eight hours a day.”  Kan radio news reports that a 15 year old Palestinian was killed last night and at least 14 were injured in clashes with IDF troops next to the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza strip.  About 1,000 Palestinians participated in the riot. They threw grenades, explosive devices, and stones.

Maariv leads with German Chancellor Merkel’s visit to Israel. It notes that the close friendship notwithstanding, there are major disagreements between the two countries on the Iranian nuclear agreement, the peace process and on the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar.  The paper also publishes commentary by former UN (and UK) Ambassador Ron Prosor. He writes, “Too many times of late, German policy has tended to conflict with Israel’s national and security interests, most of which are at the heart of the Israeli consensus.” He cites several examples including the Iran nuclear deal, and Germany’s refusal to end the “artificial separation between Hezbollah’s ‘political’ wing and its ‘military’ wing and declare all of it a terror organisation.”

Israel Hayom prominently reports the dispute between IDF Ombudsman Maj. Gen. Brick and IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eisenkot over the IDF preparedness for war.  Brick is critical of Eisenkot’s decision to form a committee to review the IDF’s readiness, and said that the committee does not have the ability to cope with the magnitude of the failures and their complexities.  He is also critical that the committee will fall under the authority of Eisenkot. He also notes that two of its members have already expressed their vigorous support for the chief of staff’s position.  Instead, Brick recommends that the prime minister appoints an external committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court justice. The IDF ombudsman has made this recommendation to the prime minister, defence minister, and the members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.

Yediot Ahronot notes that Syrian President Bashar Assad has given an interview to a Kuwaiti newspaper, the first with a Gulf newspaper since the war began in 2011.  Assad claims Syria has reached a “major understanding” with Arab states after years of hostility over the country’s civil war.  He doesn’t name the Arab countries but says Arab and Western delegations have begun visiting Syria to prepare for the reopening of diplomatic and other missions. Soon the civil war will be over, allowing Syria to resume its pivotal role in the region.

Kan radio news reports Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Indonesia through the Red Cross in wake of the tsunami disaster that claimed the lives of at least 1,400 people. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world and Israel does not have diplomatic ties with it.

Globes reports that Israeli company Elbit has won a $52m (£40m) contract to provide the UK Ministry of Defence with its MORPHEUS Battlefield Management Application. The company was awarded an initial contract of $13 million (£10m) and a potential maximum value of $52 million. The initial contract will be performed over a three-year period. Under the contract Elbit Systems UK will provide the British Army with an operationally proven battle management application for both headquarters and tactical units.