This morning’s Guardian, Independent, Telegraph and Independent i all report on a new piece of legislation adopted yesterday by the Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip, which will outlaw mixed schools and ban men teaching at girls’ schools from the start of the next school year. The new law is set to be applied to private Christian and United Nations schools in Gaza, in addition to Hamas-funded schools. Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since a bloody coup in June 2007 ousted the Fatah movement which dominates the Palestinian Authority, ending a short lived unity government. The Guardian also reports that Khaled Mashaal has been re-elected unopposed as the Hamas leader by party activists, according to two Hamas officials.

The Times covers an announcement that top Spanish football club FC Barcelona are set to play a match against a mixed team of Israelis and Palestinians in Tel Aviv in July. The article says that the game is enthusiastically supported by Israel’s President Shimon Peres, but that the idea has received some opposition from the Palestinian Football Association.

Meanwhile, the Independent publishes exerts of interviews given by kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to Israeli army investigators following his release from five years in captivity as part of a prisoner swap with Hamas in 2011. The comments, originally published in Jerusalem Post, reveal that a series of operational failures by Shalit and his tank crew led to his capture in 2006.

The Metro includes an item on reports by aid workers that newborn babies are freezing to death and that pregnant mothers are struggling to stay alive in war-torn Syria, with the two-year violent conflict showing little sign of abating. The online edition of the Financial Times reports on suspicions in Egypt that Qatar is attempting to use its significant financial muscle in order to influence the future of the country.

In the Israeli media, significant coverage is given to a lengthy Facebook post by Finance Minister and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, who said that he is shifting the focus within the ministry from macroeconomics to the needs of the everyday middle class Israeli. Describing the situation of a typical middle class married mother, he outlined the need to address her concerns. Lapid’s comments are the headline story in Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom and Haaretz which says “Lapid Surprises Finance Ministry Officials with Discussion about Middle Class.”

Meanwhile, Maariv and Makor Rishon highlight the production of natural gas from the Tamar gas field to Israel which began over the weekend and could bring about the country’s energy independence and increasing financial profit. Maariv calls it a “new era” while Makor Rishon predicts that it will save the country around £81 billion over the next twenty five years.

Israel Radio News reports that Khaled Meshaal has been re-elected as the head of Hamas, while Maariv says that the fighting in Syria is in danger of spreading with Shiites and Alawites fighting against Sunnis in neighbouring Lebanon in an overspill of the conflict.