The Telegraph reports that an attack was averted yesterday on a bus transporting children in the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. Two Palestinian attackers, apparently affiliated to Hamas, were repelled by the bus driver, civilians and security forces who eventually shot the assailants. Almost daily attacks during the last three weeks have killed 11 Israelis. The Times, Independent, Sun and Metro all cover a case of mistaken identity on Wednesday evening, which saw a Jewish Israeli man killed in a scuffle on a Jerusalem bus with Israeli soldiers, who shot him as they apparently suspected him of being a terrorist.

The Daily Mail includes a feature on Israelis using everyday items to protect themselves against Palestinian attacks, which appear to be fuelled by social media. The Financial Times online says that Israelis and indeed some Palestinians are struggling to fathom the motivation of young Palestinians carrying out the attacks.

The Independent i, Evening Standard and the online edition of the Guardian all cover a meeting in Berlin yesterday between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two leaders discussed the current violence and Kerry expressed “cautious optimism” over de-escalating the atmosphere and ending the attacks. The Guardian online notes that the Quartet is set to meet today in Vienna for the second time in recent weeks.

The Guardian covers criticism from Israeli commentators and academics of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Holocaust-related comments earlier this week. Outlining the support given to the Nazis by Palestinian wartime leader, Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, Netanyahu appeared to claim that Husseini persuaded Hitler to exterminate Jews, rather than simply expel them during a 1941 meeting between the two leaders. In the Independent, Donald Macintyre says that the Holocaust has always played a role in Israeli political discourse and identity, but that Netanyahu’s comment was a “step too far.”

The Guardian publishes a letter signed by more than 150 British artists and politicians announcing the launch of Culture for Coexistence, a body which rejects any attempt at a cultural boycott of Israel and instead promotes cultural cooperation as a conduit to help bring about a two-state solution. The letter is signed by the likes of JK Rowling, Simon Schama and Hilary Mantel.

The Guardian online reports that at least four Syrian hospitals have been bombed since Russia began its intervention in the country’s civil war. The Financial Times online says that Russia’s President Putin has called for the United States and other countries to join his fight against terrorism in Syria.

In the Israeli media, Maariv highlights yesterday’s attack in Beit Shemesh, which saw one man stabbed and wounded after two terrorists were prevented from boarding a bus and wreaking further violence. Both Israel Hayom and Yediot Ahronot prominently report on the incident in Jerusalem, in which a Jewish Israeli man was suspected of being a terrorist and shot. However, the top item in Israel Hayom is criticism from right-wing leaders of a High Court decision which has delayed the destruction of the homes of three terrorists, a policy which is meant to act as a deterrent to future would-be terrorists. Critics of the court decision say that the delay hurts Israel’s deterrent effect.

Yediot Ahronot’s top story is a report that Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas two weeks ago persuaded Arab MKs not to visit the Temple Mount, which helped calm the situation. The newspaper contrasts this with Abbas’s recent incitement, pointing out that he has falsely accused Israel of violating the status quo at the holy site and “executing” young Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Yediot Ahronot’s Nahum Barnea criticises Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Holocaust-related comments this week, saying that since being re-elected earlier this year, Netanyahu has lost “the brakes that helped him keep a lid on his mouth … His rhetoric is stronger than he is.  His hates, his fears, the personal and political scores overcome the national responsibility, and also overcome the truth.”