The Independent reports that the son of an Israeli contractor working on maintenance of the border fence with Egypt was shot and killed yesterday. The report says that the IDF is launching an investigation into the incident, but Egyptian authorities believe that the victim may have been caught in crossfire between Egyptian security forces and drugs smugglers.

The Guardian reports on the controversy over Israel’s National Theatre, Habima, which is to give its first ever performance in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. The performance has sparked a “fierce row in Israel’s artistic community,” with many artists saying that it blurs any distinction between West Bank communities and those within Israel’s pre-1967 borders. However, Israel’s Culture Minister Miri Regev, who has pressured artists to perform in the West Bank, said that Habima’s decision showed “how a national theatre should behave”.

The Telegraph says that the Church of Transfiguration in northern Israel has been vandalised, with icons damaged and chalices broken. Meanwhile, communion bread was thrown on the floor in another church in the region.  The article adds that Christian officials “did not believe the motive was Jewish extremism”.

The Guardian also includes a story on “Israel’s ‘ISIS family’” after a couple from Sakhnin in northern Israel were arrested, having returned from joining ISIS. The couple apparently travelled to Iraq with their three children via Romania, Turkey and Syria. The husband was trained and fought for ISIS, but the family eventually returned  due to tough living conditions.

The Independent reports that a Palestinian human rights group says that there has been an increase in the number of Israeli arrests over the last year regarding social media posts.

The Guardian online reports that a shortage of basic goods and rising food prices in Egypt is fuelling discontent. The Financial Times online says that the Egyptian government is plundering factories and warehouses to address a sugar shortage.

On Syria, the Times online reports that Bashar al-Assad’s regime has launched a ground assault on Aleppo. Meanwhile, the Guardian online covers an Amnesty International report which says that US-led airstrikes in Syria have killed at least 300 civilians and that more must be done to prevent further deaths.

In the Israeli media, a major story in Yediot Ahronot, Haaretz and Israel Hayom is the shooting of a 15-year-old boy, who was with his father as he worked at the border fence with Egypt. Maariv says that the boy’s father spoke to the media outside a hospital in Beer Sheva and criticised the army for not returning fire. Apparently, a local IDF commanderrealised that the gun fire was not a terror attack and more likely a mistake. Israel Radio news says that the IDF and Defence Ministry are continuing to investigate the incident.

The top story in Maariv is another United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) vote today, which appears to cast doubt over the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The World Heritage Committee is expected to approve a motion, which refers to the site exclusively by its Muslim name and does not acknowledge the significant of Jerusalem’s holy sites to Judaism or Christianity. However, unlike a similar motion approved last week by UNESCO’s Executive Board, the resolution does not use quotation marks to describe the Western Wall and does not describe Israel as an occupier. Israel Radio news says that Israeli officials believe the result of today’s vote is a foregone conclusion.

Meanwhile, Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom prominently report that a court found yesterday that Likud MK Oren Hazan did manage a casino in Bulgaria in which he used hard drugs prior to entering politics. The ruling came as part of a libel suit brought by Hazan against a journalist who had reported such activity. Israel Hayom says that there are calls to suspend Hazan from the Knesset.