The Telegraph, Independent and Independent i all report on Hamas’s denial that its leader Khaled Mashaal has been expelled from Qatar and will take up residence in Turkey. Mashaal was forced to leave Syria in 2011 after he refused to back President Assad and has been domiciled in Qatar ever since. However, Qatar has recently improved its relations with Egypt, which considers Hamas an enemy of the state. Israel’s Foreign Ministry yesterday praised Qatar’s apparent decision to expel Mashaal.

The Telegraph reports on a statement by Hezbollah’s deputy leader that the terrorist group has suffered from “infiltrations,” which the article says is an admission that a senior Hezbollah commander was recruited by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. The mole was apparently crucial in helping foil a number of Hezbollah terror attacks on Israeli-linked targets abroad.

The Times and the online edition of the Telegraph both cover a controversy over Israel’s Economy Minister Naftali Bennett and his role as a young commander in Lebanon in 1996. A prominent journalist alleged that Bennett’s “hysteria” on the battlefield during an operation was instrumental in leading to a mistaken artillery attack on a United Nations building, killing more than 100 civilians. Jewish Home leader Bennett is thought to be keen to serve as Defence Minister in Israel’s next government.

The Times reports that Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt yesterday told a Jewish charity event that there is “no such thing as a progressive argument which denies the right of the Israeli people to a homeland.”

The Guardian online says that a Palestinian man who planned the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers during the summer was yesterday sentenced to life in prison by an Israeli court. The eventual murder of the three boys helped spark a period of serious violence.

The Guardian online also reports that US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki criticised Israel’s decision to withhold tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to the PA’s application to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). Although the United States opposes the PA application, Psaki said it is against “any actions that raise tensions.” The article also says that Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin criticised withholding Palestinian tax collections, although his comments were apparently made in a private forum.

In the Israeli media this morning, there are two major items. The expected inclement weather which is scheduled to hit Israel today is the top story in Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom and Maariv, which refers to the “blockade on Jerusalem” as the city’s municipality cancelled school today and has said that the major routes into Jerusalem will be closed as soon as the first snow falls. The preparations come after a similar storm a year ago caused widespread disruption to Jerusalem and surrounding communities.

Meanwhile, Yediot Ahronot and Maariv also highlight an interview given by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which was aired last night on Channel Two. As both publications report, Netanyahu claimed that the country’s high cost of housing, a major issue for many Israelis, is largely the fault of former-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who Netanyahu succeeded. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon says that Netanyahu “has been prime minister for six years now; the good things that others did—were done by him, while the bad things that he did—were done by others.”

Haaretz highlights the latest polling which indicates that Netanyahu’s Likud Party is virtually neck and neck with the joint Labour-Hatnuah list as the largest parties. Meanwhile, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid appears to have gained some ground with Moshe Kahlon’s new Kulanu Party slightly down on previous polling figures.