The Financial Times, BBC News Online, the London Evening Standard, the Independent, the Times and City AM report on the UK Cabinet’s decision to take action in Syria. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has secured cabinet backing to deploy British forces in any US-led assault on Syria, prompting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to claim she was now “waiting for instructions from [US President] Donald Trump”. Corbyn called for an independent UN-led inquiry into the devastating air strike in Douma last Saturday that killed a reported 75 civilians and injured 500 more, presumed to have been carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime. May’s special cabinet on Thursday agreed that the use of chemical weapons could not go “unchallenged” and signed off plans for military action alongside the US and France. She spoke to Trump late on Thursday to discuss options for reprisals after the suspected chemical attack on Douma. They said there was a need “to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime”. Downing Street said ministers had agreed it was “highly likely” Syrian President Bashar Assad was responsible for the attack on Douma that reportedly left dozens dead on Saturday. Jo Johnson, a UK transport minister, told the BBC’s Question Time: “There has been no decision to take military action at this point.” The Spectator published a blog by Isabel Hardman which argues that “Parliament is very poor when it comes to scrutinising military action and foreign policy,” and questioned “the point of a Commons vote on striking Syria”. The Independent reports that the first group of experts from the global chemical weapons watchdog have travelled to Syria to begin investigating an alleged nerve agent attack, the agency has said. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the fact-finding mission would arrive in Syria on Thursday and start work in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on Saturday.

The Telegraph and BBC Online report that Russia has warned the US that launching air strikes in response to a suspected chemical attack in Syria could spark a war between the two countries. “The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war,” Moscow’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Thursday. He accused Washington of putting international peace at risk and said the situation was “very dangerous”. The US has identified eight potential targets in Syria, it was reported on Thursday evening, as the Kremlin claimed a secure hotline for the US and Russia to communicate over their operations in Syria was “active” and being used by both sides.

The Daily Mail reports that Israelis came to a halt to observe two minutes of solemn silence as a siren blared, marking the annual remembrance of the 6m Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Drivers exited their vehicles and students at schools stood in ceremonies beginning with the siren at 10am on Wednesday, while outside shops and offices, Israelis stood still, many with heads bowed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial that night, alongside dignitaries, survivors and delegations from throughout Israel.

The Daily Mail reports that thousands of people gathered at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp yesterday, to take part in a solemn march in memory of the 6m Jews killed by German Nazis during World War II. Presidents Reuven Rivlin of Israel and Andrzej Duda of Poland lit candles, bowed their heads and pressed their hands on the Death Wall at Auschwitz, the site where inmates, chiefly Polish resistance fighters, were executed by Nazi German forces during World War II. They then took their places at the head of the march, where a majority of participants were young Israelis or other Jews learning about the tragedy of their people, who walked along some of those who survived the Holocaust.

The Times reports that two young Palestinian men each had a leg amputated this week after being shot by Israeli soldiers at the Gaza border. According to Israeli-Arab organisations that petitioned the Israeli high court on their behalf, their legs could have been saved with proper medical treatment, which is unavailable in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of Palestinians are allowed into Israel from Gaza each year for medical treatment, but the Israeli government has said it will not help those it deems as security risks or who have taken part in action against Israel. The two men, identified as Yousef Karnaz, 20, and Muhammad al-Ajouri, 17, were among hundreds of young Palestinians shot and wounded on 30 March after flouting warnings not to encroach on the Gaza border fence during the first of a series of protests billed by the Palestinians as “the Great Return March”. A petition was made to the Israeli High Court to allow the two men to be treated in the West Bank, but the government said that, although they met the medical criteria for being allowed to travel through Israel, their wounds were “directly related to their participation in the riots,” so they were denied entry. The High Court deferred its ruling and scheduled a second session yesterday, but doctors in Gaza decided that neither of the men could wait for the outcome and both had a leg amputated.

BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme interviewed former IDF Major General and National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror. In the interview he discussed the ongoing situation in Syria the alleged Israeli strike on a Syrian airbase and the alleged chemical attack and the possible US response.

The Guardian published letters from a group of former Israeli Defence Force (IDF) snipers who wished to “express our feelings of distress regarding the recent incidents in the Gaza Strip”.

The Guardian reports that Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israel’s Prime Minister, has criticised the Australian live export trade, saying she was “appalled” by conditions and would speak to Lucy Turnbull, wife of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, about it.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that Egypt on Thursday opened its largely sealed border with the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip for three days, on the eve of more planned protests against Israel, Palestinian authorities said. In just the fourth such opening this year, the Rafah crossing to Egypt’s Sinai region will be open until Saturday for humanitarian cases, the interior ministry in Gaza said. An AFP photographer saw the first busload of 70 people, including women and children, crossing on Thursday morning.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man during clashes at the Gaza border on Thursday evening, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said. It named him as Abdullah al-Shahari, 28, and said he was shot east of the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis. The Israeli military told AFP it was not aware of such an incident.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that a senior Israeli official on Thursday formally complained to Ireland’s Ambassador after Dublin’s mayor slipped past an entry ban to attend a Palestinian conference. Deputy Director General Rodica Radian-Gordon “expressed her amazement and deep disappointment at the fact that the mayor chose to participate in a blatantly anti-Israel event,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement. Lord Mayor Micheal Mac Donncha entered Israel on his way to the Israeli-occupied West Bank for a conference Wednesday night on the disputed status of Jerusalem. Although he was officially barred from entry for alleged anti-Israel activity, he passed unchallenged through immigration at Tel Aviv airport late Tuesday, reportedly due to a clerical error misspelling his name. The Israeli statement quoted Radian-Gordon as saying Mac Donncha’s Ramallah visit was “particularly jarring” as it took place on Holocaust remembrance day. Netanyahu said the Ramallah conference “featured prominent images” of Haj Amin al-Husseini, leader of a 1936 revolt against the British mandate over Palestine and grand mufti of Jerusalem who collaborated with the Nazis.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that Diplomats at UNESCO are hailing a possible breakthrough on longstanding Israeli-Arab tensions at the UN cultural agency. Israel’s Ambassador to UNESCO said the mood was “like a wedding” after member nations agreed on a rare compromise resolution Thursday on “Occupied Palestine”. The document is still quite critical of Israel, but Israeli Ambassador Carmel Shama-Hacohen told AP that diplomats agreed to move the most controversial language to a non-binding annex. That compromise was largely technical, but was an unusual example of Mideast cooperation at UNESCO.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that a campaign by Arab states to block Israel’s bid for a Security Council seat has gained support weeks ahead of a scheduled UN vote, the Palestinian foreign minister said Thursday. “We are doing everything possible to convince as many countries as possible to block the vote on Israel’s bid for a seat at the Security Council,” Riyad al-Maliki told reporters in Riyadh ahead of the Arab Summit this weekend. “We need to secure the one-third vote necessary for a veto, and we believe we can, as Arab and Islamic states,” the minister added. Maliki said the Palestinian effort to block the vote had also received significant support from European allies. Israel, Germany and Belgium are in the running for two coveted spots at the Security Council, the UN’s most powerful branch.

The Israeli media reports on the March of the Living, which was held yesterday at Auschwitz with the participation of top Israeli officials, including President Reuven Rivlin and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, as well as Polish President Andrzej Duda. The Chief of Staff also added Capt. Keren Brosh to the delegation, whose grandmother, Mireille Knoll, was murdered two weeks ago in Paris, in what appeared to be an antisemitic attack.

Maariv and Yediot Ahronot report on Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s speech, in which he said that “the bilateral relations between Israel and Poland are excellent. However, I have to tell you that a heavy shadow clouds our relationship. You have to understand the Jewish people’s feelings – the Holocaust flourished on Polish soil. We appreciate everyone who risked their lives to save Jews, but there were also other phenomena, people who murdered and inherited. I know that there is public opinion and sometimes there is a desire to placate it and sometimes also to change laws, but the Holocaust law has caused a severe crisis. This law could lead people to think that you are unwilling to cope with your past in the Holocaust.” Writing in Yediot Ahronoth, Sever Plocker argues that “the President gave a rare speech: A levelheaded, wise speech, correct factually and historically, not condescending, not threatening, a speech that does justice to the vast complexity of the 1,000-year relationship between Poland and its Jews, between Jews and their Poland”. In related news, the Times of Israel quotes a report that Trump administration officials asked the Israeli government and opposition to reduce its criticism of Poland’s Holocaust legislation.

Maariv and Israel Hayom look ahead to next week’s Memorial Day, in which Israel marks the death of 23,645 fallen soldiers. Kan Radio News reports that the Defence Ministry announced that 12 civilians were killed in terror attacks last year. Ever since Israel declared independence, 3,134 civilians have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and overseas.

Haaretz reports that the IDF is expanding Holocaust Studies for soldiers.

Maariv, Haaretz and the Times of Israel report on developments in Gaza where Hamas is preparing to continue the march of return towards the fence on the Gaza Strip for the third week. Ahmed Abu Rteima, a member of the PR committee for the “great march of return” protest on the Gaza border, said that the Palestinian public in Gaza was preparing for the third march under the theme of “waving the flag of Palestine and burning the flag of the occupation”. He called on the public, including on Hamas-affiliated media outlets, to hold nonviolent processions and to refrain from deviating from their designated route.  Tal Lev Ram in Maariv notes that “this time, in contrast with the two previous clashes, there is a heightened state of alert in northern Israel, ahead of a potential Iranian retaliation for the air strike in Syria that foreign sources ascribed to Israel”.

Yediot Ahronoth and the Jerusalem Post headline with comments by an Iranian Official, who threatened to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa.