The Guardian, Independent and the Daily Mail report that 8 years’ worth of undelivered post was delivered by Israel to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Guardian reports that Israel allowed 10 tonnes of mail to be handed to Palestinian postal workers after preventing the letters and parcels from entering the West Bank for up to eight years. The undelivered mail was being sifted through in a sorting office in Jericho and included family photographs and personal letters as well as medicine and a wheelchair. Some packages had been marked as recorded delivery. The Independent reports that In 2016, an agreement was reached to allow Palestinians to receive international mail without it first being handled by Israel, but in a statement on Tuesday, PA Communications Minister Allam Moussa accused Israel of dragging its feet on implementing the deal, which continued to cost the Palestinian economy. The Daily Mail reports that Israeli authorities confirmed the packages had been transferred and said an agreement was in the works, but did not comment in detail. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for civilian coordination in the Palestinian territories, said the release was part of confidence building measures after the two sides agreed on a postal entry deal “about a year ago”. It said while the deal had not yet gone into force for future deliveries, it had “allowed a one-time transfer of approximately ten and a half tonnes of mail that had been held in Jordan”.

Reuters and the Daily Mail report on Egypt’s mediation efforts in securing a long – term truce between Israel and Hamas. Reuters reports that Egypt is finalising the details of a long-term truce deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.Cairo has brokered an interim truce that has allowed commercial goods into Gaza ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Adha feast which starts next week. An Egyptian security source said: “We are putting the final touches to the terms of the truce that will be signed by all sides, and we expect to announce the terms next week if Fatah helps us to do so.” The source added that “the period of calm will be for one year, during which contacts will be held to extend it for another four years”. However, officials from Fatah have not joined those of Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, and other Palestinian factions for the talks in Cairo on the long-term truce. The Daily Mail reports that Fatah’s backing is crucial for any deal as the party retains a large presence in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and has overall control in areas under Abbas’s Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

The Telegraph reports that Russian military police have begun patrolling the demilitarised zone between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights. Russian Lt Gen Sergei Kuralenko told journalists that “the Russian military police are pioneers in renewing patrols of the Golan Heights,” and that “there is almost no danger besides from mines. The whole demilitarised zone is under control now”. The mission of Moscow’s forces is to help the UN disengagement observer force restart its monitoring of the zone, he said. They have mapped safe routes and accompanied UN observers down the MCM road through the demilitarised zone this month, he added. Russian military police have four bases in the area.

Reuters, The Times and the FT report on US warnings that it is ready to hit Turkey with more sanctions. Reuters reports that the United States warned Turkey to expect more economic sanctions unless it hands over detained American pastor Andrew Brunson. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin assured US President Donald Trump at a Cabinet meeting that sanctions were ready to be put in place if Brunson was not freed. “We have more that we are planning to do if they don’t release him quickly,” Mnuchin said during the meeting. The Times reports that Turkey claims Brunson had links to the failed coup in 2016. During a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump said that Turkey had “not proven to be a good friend”. The FT reports that US has already imposed sanctions on two Turkish cabinet ministers in the escalating row. Turkey’s leaders, however, have given no public indication of capitulating to Washington’s demands.

The BBC reports that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn did not know that a man he stood next to at a wreath-laying ceremony was a senior member of a militant Palestinian group. Maher Taher, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was pictured alongside the Labour leader at a 2014 event in Tunis. The PFLP was later linked to an attack on an Israeli synagogue. The US and EU consider it to be a terrorist group. Corbyn told the BBC: “I was unaware of any of his background.”

Writing in Prospect magazine, Donald Macintyre explains why the chance for two-states in Israel and Palestine risks slipping away and former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg sets out why the only way out of the conflict now is a one state solution.

All the Israeli media report details of a potential Gaza deal that, according to Haaretz, includes a comprehensive ceasefire; reopening of Gaza’s border crossings, expanding the fishing zone; medical and humanitarian aid; a resolution to the issue of captive soldiers, missing civilians and prisoners; reconstruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, with foreign funding; and discussions about sea and air ports in Gaza.

Yediot Ahronot and Maariv report that Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman warned that an arrangement without Mahmoud Abbas sent the message that terrorism pays and that in the long term, it would weaken the moderates and strengthen Hamas. But Security Cabinet ministers were briefed that the truce arrangements assumed that Abbas would not cooperate so there was no choice but to bypass the PA by means of Qatari money for salaries and international money by means of UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov, who is supposed to ensure that the money go for projects and not for terrorism. Both Israeli officials and Hamas officials have denied an agreement.

Yediot Ahronot reports that Director of Egyptian Intelligence General Abbas Kamel was scheduled to meet yesterday in Ramallah with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and to pressure him to take part in the truce arrangement, but the PA President cancelled the meeting. However, the assessment is that even without the PA, Egypt will declare the truce arrangement today or tomorrow. Ramallah is also reportedly angry at Egypt for neglecting inter-Palestinian reconciliation. Senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad yesterday called the inchoate truce arrangement with Israel “a betrayal of the Palestinian people and is national aspirations.”

Channel Ten reported last night that Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with Qatari envoy Mohammed al-Amadi in Nicosia on June 22. During the meeting, they discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip and the attempts to attain a cease-fire agreement.

Kan Radio News and Maariv reports on the disagreement between Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Bennett called the developing agreement between Israel and Hamas “Oslo II,” saying it was a serious and irresponsible mistake that would allow Hamas to accelerate its rocket production and threaten Israel’s population centres in the near future. Yisrael Beiteinu officials replied that Bennett was frequently absent from security Cabinet Meetings on Gaza and was therefore not an expert. They said that there has been a disagreement between the responsible and state-oriented right, represented by Lieberman, and the messianic and populist right, represented by Bennett and Smotrich, who support a bi-national state and reoccupying Gaza.

In the commentary on Gaza, Alex Fishman in Yediot Ahronot argues that there is little new in the announcement of an agreement: “They tried to sell us these used goods that go by the name of ‘truce arrangement’ several times over the past ten months. In early 2018, this was known as the ‘humanitarian plan for the Gaza Strip’s rehabilitation’. It’s the same thing in a different wrapping: the multi-stage Egyptian plan to bring the PA back into the Gaza Strip.” He concludes that “Israel is willing, in the framework of this “truce arrangement,” to give exactly the same goods that it was willing to give before the violence began. In other words, humanitarian infrastructure, a continuation of the dialogue on bringing back the MIAs and hostages”.

Yoav Limor in Israel Hayom believes that “the optimistic media reports about a far-reaching agreement on a truce arrangement for Gaza are premature. As of now, the only understanding is that today will be a major test for the Gaza Strip, and if it’s quiet today, the talks can continue”. He adds: “the focus will be on what happens today, Friday, a day that has been the scene, in the last few months, of large numbers of demonstrators that turn into displays of violence with attempts to breach the fence, bombs and grenades, (and of course incendiary kites and balloons). A demonstration is also planned for today, but Hamas promised to keep it quiet and restrained. This will be a test of its leadership and of its ability to restrain the public and the rejectionist factions in the Gaza Strip.”

All the Israeli media report that an Israeli woman was killed in a suspected hit-and-run near Havat Gilad in the West Bank. The woman who was in her 40s is believed to have been hit by a Palestinian taxi driver at a junction on Highway 60. The driver, in his 60s, fled the scene, but later turned himself in to the Palestinian police in Nablus. He said he fled because he was afraid. Kan Radio News reports that the IDF Spokesperson’s Office said that the circumstances of the incident were still under investigation, but the security establishment increasingly believes that it was an accident.

Kan Radio News and the Times of Israel reports that Netanyahu will be questioned about Case 4000 today, in which he is suspected of having given benefits to the Bezeq Group in exchange for favourable coverage on the Walla website. This is due to be Netanyahu’s last round of questioning in this case and he is expected to be asked about the material that state’s witnesses Nir Hefetz and Shlomo Filber have provided.