The Financial Times reports that the US will on Thursday ramp up pressure on European countries to “fix” a landmark Iran nuclear deal that US President Donald Trump has threatened to scrap. A team of senior US foreign policy officials will meet their European counterparts in Berlin in a third formal effort to keep the US in the nuclear deal with Iran. Trump has given European signatories a deadline of 12 May to address his grievances or risk a US withdrawal. Mr Trump has called the multi-party pact, reached during the Obama administration, “the worst deal ever”. A state department spokesperson said: “This is a last chance.”

The Times reports that social media posts defending Russia and claiming the Salisbury nerve agent attack was the work of MI5, Mossad or Hillary Clinton have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. The Fort Russ Facebook page, which has 20,000 followers and “counters western mainstream media disinformation against Russia” claimed that the Hillary Clinton “crime network” or the Mossad Israeli intelligence agency were good candidates for the attack.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Israel’s governing coalition reached a deal to avoid early elections after days of tense negotiations, but politicians are now bracing for a bombshell that may lie ahead: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s possible indictment. The deal announced on Tuesday night put to rest for now talk of a high-stakes gamble for Netanyahu, who could be indicted for bribery in the months ahead. Some members of his coalition had accused him of wanting early elections to shore up his political standing ahead of the attorney general’s decision.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Israeli tanks shelled Hamas posts in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after Palestinians set off bombs along the border fence, the military said, with no casualties reported. A security source from Hamas, the Islamist movement which runs the Gaza Strip, said that one round hit an observation post near the border, causing damage but no casualties. He said that earlier, shortly after sunrise, there were four explosions along the border, which slightly damaged the Israeli frontier barrier. An Israeli military statement said: “A number of explosive devices were detonated on the security fence along the northern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported. “Tanks targeted posts belonging to the Hamas terror organisation in response,” it added.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that an Israeli military court on Wednesday began examining a request for a shorter prison term by a soldier jailed for 14 months for shooting dead a wounded Palestinian, the army said. A ruling on the request by Elor Azaria was expected in the coming days, an army spokeswoman said. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter last year for shooting Abdul Fatah al-Sharif in the head in March 2016, as the Palestinian lay on the ground wounded after stabbing a soldier. Azaria was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but Israel’s Chief of Staff General Gadi Eisenkot later reduced the term by four months.

BBC News Online and the Guardian report Syrian regime forces have broken into a key town in the beleaguered rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta amid heavy bombardment, a monitor has said. “Regime forces assaulted Hamouriyah,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Wednesday, adding that the troops were able to control areas in the south of the enclave. People in need of medical treatment have been evacuated from Eastern Ghouta area on the outskirts of Syria’s capital, Damascus. Twenty-five patients and their families are believed to have left via a government checkpoint on Wednesday. Another 31 were evacuated on Tuesday as part of an agreement between a rebel group and the government’s ally Russia.

The Times and the Telegraph report that the battle for Afrin, the Kurdish-held city in northern Syria, moved into a new phase last night as Turkish troops surrounded the city, placing hundreds of thousands of people under siege. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted that civilians would be offered a safe corridor out of the area, and that all care was being taken to avoid harming civilians. However, Kurdish forces operating in the area claimed that Turkish airstrikes and artillery attacks were hitting civilian as well as military targets. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that 204 Syrian citizens, including 32 women and 26 children, have been killed during the Turkish operation.

The Guardian reports that Sadegh Zibakalam, an outspoken professor of Tehran university, who is a well-known figure in the country’s political commentariat has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for spreading anti-state propaganda. Zibakalam said while speaking to the Guardian on the phone from Tehran on Wednesday, said he has also been banned from political and social activities including writing for newspapers and giving interviews, or activities on social media, for a period of two years, according to his verdict. He has 20 days to appeal.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that The United Nations says about $540 million is needed for humanitarian relief in the Palestinian territories in 2018. Jamie McGoldrick, the top UN humanitarian coordinator, said Wednesday that 75 percent of that sum is for Gaza, where “a man-made tragedy is unfolding daily.”

The Times writes in its obituary of scientists Stephen Hawking that the physicist had a complex relationship with the Middle East. He visited Israel and worked with Israeli scientists, but later criticised its policies towards the Palestinians. In 2009 he became the most prominent academic supporter of the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement to isolate Israel when he turned down an invitation to attend a conference in honour of the 90th birthday of the former President Shimon Peres. He received a storm of criticism, with some people pointing out that the computer chip that ran his voice synthesiser was invented in Israel.

Kan Radio News reports on last night’s budget vote. 62 MKs voted in favour and 54 were opposed. The budget comes to NIS 479.6bn (£100.2bn), an increase of more than four percent compared to this year’s budget. Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon tweeted that it was worth overcoming all the obstacles in order to approve a socially-conscious budget that would change the face of the State of Israel over the next few years. Israeli opposition Chairman MK Isaac Herzog said that passing the 2019 budget in March demonstrated a lack of seriousness and perhaps a lack of faith in the government in itself.

Haaretz reports that senior Zionist Union officials rallied against Labour Party leader Avi Gabbay in order to prevent the dissolution of the Netanyahu Government. According to reports, Gabbay pushed for early elections during the government’s latest crisis, but colleagues convinced him to reverse course. After stating on Sunday that he supported elections as soon as possible, Gabbay was approached by Labour MKs Shelly Yachimovich, Isaac Herzog and Yoel Hasson, together with Hatnuah chairwoman Tzipi Livini who persuaded Gabbay to retract his support for early elections.

Maariv reports that with the end of the coalition crisis, the investigations into Netanyahu are back on the agenda. Police and the Prime Minister’s Office are currently working on scheduling a time to question the Prime Minister under caution in the Bezeq affair (Case 4,000) before Passover.

Israel Hayom reports on the alleged strategy of the (PA) which it terms the ‘three nos’: no to resetting ties with the US, no to Trump’s “deal of the century,” and no to “preventing a diplomatic intifada against Israel by joining international organisations”

Maariv, Israel Hayom and Haaretz both report on the death of physicist Stephen Hawking with Israel Hayom stating that part of his greatness was making science accessible. Haaretz features an article ‘Stephen Hawking and an Israeli physicist had an argument. What followed was a groundbreaking discovery’, adding that Hawking set out to prove Jacob Bekenstein wrong but found that black holes should emit radiation.