The Guardian this morning reports that the UK government is pressing the Palestinian leadership not to push ahead with a bid to upgrade the status of its United Nations (UN) delegation to that of a ‘non-member state.’ Palestinian leaders have declared their intention to push for a UN General Assembly vote on the issue next month, but apparently UK officials have warned that such a unilateral move would damage the chances of US re-engagement with the peace process following next month’s presidential elections and could have financial consequences for the Palestinian Authority.

Meanwhile, the Times, Independent i, BBC online and Guardian online report on an Israel Defence Ministry file released under court order which indicates that the Israeli military made a precise calculation of Gaza’s daily calorie needs to avoid malnutrition during a blockade of the Gaza Strip from 2007-2010. Israeli officials have said that the document was only ever a draft and that the calculations were only ever meant to identify warning signs to prevent a humanitarian crisis rather than to restrict the flow of food.

The Telegraph carries an article on speculation that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will adopt sections of the Levy Report on the legal status of West Bank settlements. Netanyahu commissioned the report himself, but he is apparently unlikely to adopt the report’s conclusion that Israel is not an occupying force in the West Bank. However, the Telegraph report claims that he will accept proposals in the report that retroactively legalise settlement ‘outposts’ and permit construction within existing settlement boundaries without ministerial approval.

Both the Independent and its sister publication Independent i report that former Mossad head Meir Dagan is undergoing a liver transplant in Belarus. Both reports claim that surgeons in the United States and Europe refused to treat Dagan due to his former position, although his family reportedly explained that Dagan would have faced a lengthy wait for a transplant in both Germany and the US.

The Telegraph publishes a report that Hezbollah is directly intervening in Syria’s ongoing conflict by regularly launching rocket attacks from Lebanon against forces opposing Syrian President Assad. Hezbollah is considered a close ally of Assad, especially given that Syria is thought to be an important source of their weaponry.

Almost all of the Israeli dailies lead with the announcement yesterday that the religious party Shas will be jointly led into the upcoming election by current party chairman Eli Yishai, former party leader Aryeh Deri and Minister Ariel Attias, who brokered the deal. Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Israel Hayom and Makor Rishon make this story their headline. The agreement is widely seen as a compromise allowing Deri to reintegrate into the party while assuring that Yishai’s seniority remains in place. Writing in Maariv, Mazal Mualem comments that although agreement has been reached between Deri and Yishai, “This combination could be volatile.”

Meanwhile, Likud’s party convention yesterday evening is also widely covered, with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s unexplained absence noted. Maariv focuses on the extremely warm reception given to Likud’s popular Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon who retired from politics earlier this week.

Haaretz publishes a new poll this morning that indicates that a party including Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid would narrowly defeat the Likud Party in the upcoming election.

Yediot Ahronot reports the suggestion that Prime Minister Netanyahu will push for a cabinet vote on the conclusions of the Levy Report into the legal status of West Bank settlements. Yediot Ahronot suggests that a cabinet motion will be drawn up which sidesteps any potentially volatile issues, which could arouse international condemnation. Israel Radio News this morning reports that Leader of the Opposition Shaul Mofaz requested that the Attorney General block cabinet adoption of the Levy Report so as not to tie the hands of any future government.