The Evening Standard and online edition of the Guardian both report the killing of an 18-year-old Israeli soldier, stabbed to death yesterday while sleeping on a bus by a Palestinian teenager. Initial Israeli police reports say the assailant, who had illegally entered Israel, said he carried out the attack in revenge for the imprisonment of a family member.

The Evening Standard also reports that on Tuesday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu halted preliminary plans by Jewish Home’s Housing Minister Uri Ariel to construct homes beyond the pre-1967 borders in the West Bank and Jerusalem. The Independent i says senior Palestinian peace negotiators have resigned, citing a lack of progress in recent peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) although PA President Mahmoud Abbas has said the negotiations will continue.

The Telegraph says that US Congressional members were left unconvinced by Secretary of State John Kerry who yesterday requested, during a closed doors session, that they refrain from imposing further sanctions on Iran to avoid a collapse of current negotiations between Tehran and the international community. The Financial Times analyses Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s public opposition to the proposed interim deal being discussed between the two sides and its impact on US-Israel relations. In the Financial Times online, an op-ed by Israel’s Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz argues that Iran can perfectly well develop nuclear energy for civilian purposes, but there is simply no peaceful purpose to enriching uranium and no “right” to do so as Iran claims.

In Iran itself, the Financial Times says President Rouhani is facing internal opposition to the widening of civil liberties, with parliamentarians and the judiciary blocking key appointments and maintaining a ban on social media and selected newspapers.

Online editions of the Telegraph and Times both report that Russia’s Foreign Minister and Defence Minister will travel to Egypt today to strengthen ties between the two countries and discuss a possible arms deal, in the wake of the United States’ decision to reduce its military aid to Cairo. The Guardian online says that during his trial yesterday, ousted premier Mohammed Morsi publicly accused de facto leader General al-Sisi of treason, having removed Morsi from power in July.

Meanwhile, the Guardian online says Syrian troops loyal to President Assad, fighting alongside Hezbollah have captured the southern Damascus suburb of Hejeira.

In the Israeli media, the main headline is the murder yesterday on a bus in Afula of Israeli soldier Eden Attias who was killed by a Palestinian 16-year-old. It is the top story in Makor Rishon, Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot, which leads with the simple headline “Stabbed to death.” Maariv stresses that senior IDF officers say they are experiencing difficulty in coping with a string of apparently unconnected individual attacks by Palestinians on Israelis. Israel Hayom’s headline places the blame for yesterday’s killing on Palestinian incitement against Israel. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Yossi Yehoshua warns that “the Palestinian street is volatile.”

Haaretz and Makor Rishon cover Prime Minister Netanyahu’s latest comments regarding talks between the international community and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme. Yesterday, Netanyahu warned that a bad deal brokered now could lead to conflict, but suggested an alternative path whereby sanctions are maintained.

Israel Radio news reports this morning that an IDF rescue team has left for the Philippines in order to provide medical attention to the wounded following the typhoon which struck last weekend.