The Telegraph reports that Israeli intelligence has helped stop terrorists from using civilian aeroplanes in Europe to carry out major attacks “of the worst kind,” according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu told a group of ambassadors from NATO countries that his nation’s intelligence agencies had “helped save many European” lives by passing on warnings of jihadist plots. He did not give details of the thwarted attacks but said they “involve civil aviation”.

The Independent reports on the expansion of settlements announced by Israeli Minister of Defence Avigdor Lieberman. Israeli authorities were due to approve on Wednesday the construction of 1,285 housing units to be built in 2018 and advance planning for 2,500 others in about 20 different settlements, according to a statement released by Lieberman on Tuesday.

Yahoo News UK via AP reports on the death of an Israeli from wounds sustained in a West Bank shooting on Tuesday. The attack took place near Havat Gilad, an Israeli settlement outpost near the Palestinian city of Nablus.

The Independent, Yahoo News UK via Reuters, and Mail Online via AP report that Syria’s military accused Israel of launching missiles targeting its outposts near Damascus in a wave of three pre-dawn attacks on Tuesday and claimed that the Syrian air force hit one of the Israeli jets and shot down several of the missiles. The Independent reports that Israeli jets and ground-to-ground missile attacks on targets in the outskirts of Damascus are a mark of Israel’s heightened concern as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad comes close to winning the civil war. They further report that Israel’s Security Cabinet has held meetings several times in recent days to discuss how it should respond to the “day-after” the war as Syria returns to Mr Assad’s control and to Iran’s expanded influence in Syria.

The Guardian, the Daily Mail via AP and BBC News Online report that Yair Netanyahu, son of Benjamin Netanyahu, has apologised after an audiotape of him bragging about his father’s role in a controversial gas deal was broadcast. In the tape – said to be from 2015 – Yair is heard trying to persuade businessman Kobi Maimon’s son Ori to lend him money for a stripper. Commentators had focused as much on the fact that Netanyahu had been driven between strip clubs by a government-supplied driver and bodyguard on a drunken evening out, as much as his boasts about the highly lucrative and controversial gas deal. Netanyahu, when asked about the recording at a press conference, stated that: “My son was correct in saying yesterday that he had spoken foolish words. He said, ‘it’s not me, Yair’. He said that these are not the values that characterise him. And he’s right”.

The Telegraph and BBC News Online report that Israeli police and rescue teams are searching for a Northern Ireland man who has been missing for several weeks in the southern Israeli desert. Oliver McAfee, from County Down, was last seen on 21 November, police said. The 29-year-old had been cycling on the Israel National Trail near the desert city of Mitzpe Ramon. Travellers found his wallet, keys and a tablet computer on the trail and handed them in to police, prompting a search that is ongoing after 11 days.

BBC News Online, Yahoo News UK via AP and Mail Online via AFP report that a senior Hamas figure in Gaza has been shot in the head in what the militant Palestinian group says was an accident. Imad al-Alami shot himself while “inspecting his personal weapon in his home” and was in a critical condition, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. Medical sources say Alami, a former member of Hamas’s political bureau who has close ties to Iran, is being treated at a hospital in Gaza City. There was no independent confirmation of the circumstances of the incident.

The Guardian has published an op-ed by Asad Rehman, the executive director of War on Want, arguing that the “BDS blacklist” published in the Israeli media on Sunday is “borrowed straight from South Africa’s apartheid government,” which had the same aim of silencing critics. In the piece, he “[calls] on the British government not only to condemn this crackdown, but to stop arming Israel – and to hold its government to account for the apartheid policies that made BDS a necessity in the first place”.

The Independent reports on the continuing legal case of Ahed Tamimi and its implications on the broader peace process.

The Mail Online via Reuters reports Israel should stop plans to send tens of thousands of migrants back to Africa forcibly, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday, suggesting some could be resettled in Europe or other countries. Israel said last Wednesday it would pay thousands of African migrants living illegally in the country to leave.

The Financial Times reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the US, Israel and the Iranian opposition of plotting for months to orchestrate protests against the Islamic regime in which at least 21 people were killed. “The plot was engineered by America and Zionists. For some months they have been planning to start the [protests] in small towns and then move towards the centre [Tehran]”, Khamenei said in a public speech.

All the Israeli media lead on the terrorist attack yesterday in the West Bank.  Israel Hayom emphasises “22 rounds fired mercilessly”.  Haaretz notes that the search for the terrorists is ongoing.  Maariv recounts that according to his wife, “He called me and told me, ‘I’ve been shot, call an ambulance.’ I’m still shocked and shaken by the ease with which they just shoot us like that”. Yediot Ahronot glumly notes that six children are now left without a father.  Maariv also reports Jewish Home MK Smotrich, who drove by the scene just a few minutes after the incident, administered first-aid to the injured victim and tweeted afterwards: “Jewish blood will not be forfeit! A horrible attack took place a few cars ahead of me on the Gilad road. We stopped to give first aid; currently going home. This is an inconceivable reality where a subhuman came to murder. Mr. Defence Minister, this has to stop! Order the security forces to act immediately with a heavy hand! Make it clear to the Palestinians that they will pay a heavy price for every such attack.”

Elsewhere in the West Bank Kan Radio News report a violent riot involving about 100 Palestinians broke out during an IDF operation in the city of Jericho. The Palestinians threw cinder blocks at the troops and burned rubbish bins and tyres. Also, during sweeps conducted in Hebron, security forces arrested 11 individuals wanted for involvement in terrorist activity and violent riots.

Yediot Ahronot includes more details from the strike in Syria early yesterday.  The Syrian army issued an official statement claiming the Israeli Air Force carried out its first strike, firing missiles from Lebanese airspace at military warehouses in a Damascus suburb.  The second strike was carried out from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights and the third attack was carried out—for the first time—from within Israeli territory near Tiberias. Syrian officials claimed that the Syrian army air defence systems successfully stopped the attacks and hit one of the Israeli warplanes. Syrian rebel groups claimed that not a single Israeli plane was hit and none of the missiles were intercepted.  According to Syrian reports, the IDF attacked a shipment of sophisticated weapons that was on route to Hezbollah.

Israel Hayom reports that the Defence Ministry revealed that in 2017 the Palestinian Authority (PA) paid out to prisoners and former prisoners more than NIS 550m, and another NIS 687m to the families of suicide bombers and terrorists who were injured.  This is 7 per cent of the PA’s annual budget. The size of the stipends is determined by the number of years in prison, the longer they serve the more they receive.  The PA also “rewards” residents of East Jerusalem and Arab Israelis, paying an additional NIS 300 for East Jerusalemites and an additional NIS 500 to Arab Israelis every month.

All the papers continue to focus on the drunken antics of the Prime Minister’s son Yair.  Both Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz suggest that the he was a regular visitor to Tel Aviv strip clubs.  The papers also note the Prime Minister admonishing his son, noting he spoke “foolishly”.