The Guardian, the Associated Press and Reuters report that Israel’s president accepted an 11th-hour request from Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to extend his deadline to form a coalition government after seemingly-moribund talks with Benjamin Netanyahu restarted. The Times reports the prospect of Israel’s fourth election in 18 months looms after Netanyahu and Gantz failed to seal a coalition deal by yesterday’s deadline for Gantz to form a government.

The Independent reports that Iran last weekend begun easing a nationwide shutdown and is resuming what it describes as “low-risk” economic activities, despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic that continues to kill scores and infect hundreds a day. The Guardian reports that Iran’s president has been accused of leaving the country exposed to a second coronavirus outbreak after he relaxed social distancing rules in the face of concerns that seven million Iranians had been left jobless or suffering wage cuts because of government restrictions.

The Times reports that Turkey has reopened after a weekend of total curfew, criticisms of which led to Suleyman Soylu, the interior minister, offering his resignation. The Independent reports that chaos erupted outside shops throughout Turkey late Friday night after the government announced a strict weekend curfew to halt the spread of coronavirus. Reuters reports that Turkey’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law that will allow the release of tens of thousands of prisoners to ease overcrowding in jails and protect detainees from the coronavirus, but which critics slam for excluding those jailed for terrorism.

The Financial Times reports that conditions are worsening in Tripoli, the besieged Libyan capital, after water and natural gas supplies to the city were recently cut, making life even more difficult for a population living with war and the new threat of coronavirus. TheAssociated Press reports that forces allied with the UN-supported government in Libya said on Monday they wrested control of a key town that served as a base for rival forces launching a yearlong offensive on the country’s capital.

The Financial Times reports that Saudi Arabia and Russia ended their oil price war on Sunday after OPEC finalised a deal to make the biggest oil production cuts in its history.

The Associated Press reports that even when faced with the same invisible enemy in the coronavirus pandemic, Iran and the US remain locked in retaliatory pressure campaigns that now view the outbreak as just the latest battleground.

The Telegraph reports that an Israeli-Palestinian peace-building conference on Zoom has landed a prominent Palestinian peace campaigner in jail on charges of treason by the Hamas-run security service.

Reuters reports that the chief US negotiator and the top US commander in Afghanistan held talks on Monday with Taliban officials in Doha on a prisoner release dispute that helped stall US-led peace-making efforts, a Taliban spokesman said.

The Independent reports that a court run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has sentenced four journalists to death after their conviction on spying charges, their lawyer has said.

The Guardian reports that the organisers of the Saudi Cup, a horse racing day billed as the world’s richest, have been left embarrassed after the trainer of the winning horse was indicted for doping, forcing them to withhold the entire $20m prize purse.

In The Independent, Borzou Daragahi writes that doctors on the frontline against the coronavirus across the Middle East are “like soldiers in a war”, amid rising numbers of cases and a shortage of medical staff, beds and equipment.

All the Israeli media reports that there are now 11,868 confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel, while 117 people have died. There are also 181 patients in serious condition, with 136 on ventilators. The government has decided to implement another full lockdown this evening, as the country marks the end of the Passover festival. The lockdown will begin at 5pm Tuesday and last until 5am Thursday, covering the end of Passover and the Mimouna celebrations, traditionally held by Jews of North African origin after the final day of the holiday. During the lockdown, Israelis will not be allowed to leave their towns or communities, although shops will be open. However, if medicine, food, and other essential needs are not available where they live, they will be permitted to travel to an adjacent town. There will be no public transportation and residents will continue being limited to a 100-meter radius of their homes. In addition, bakeries will not be allowed to operate on Wednesday night, when Passover ends, as authorities fear a post-Passover rush for bread and other baked goods. These restriction will only apply to towns with a Jewish majority.

The Israeli media report that Hamas and Israel are holding indirect negotiations for a prisoner exchange deal. According to Haaretz, Israel would send humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, including ventilators as part of the deal. Israel Hayom reports that according to Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Hamas has agreed on a list of 250 of its members currently imprisoned in Israel that it wants released, as part of a deal, and in return would provide Israel with information about the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed in the 2014 Operation Protective Edge – Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul – and two captive civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed. According to Al-Akhbar, a former German mediator who was involved in the deal to release captive soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, has delivered messages to Hamas. Meanwhile, sources in Hamas are saying that the group is willing to carry out preliminary steps for a deal that would entail the release of 250 prisoners in exchange for “information”. The sources said that Hamas was unwilling to talk about a final deal until Israel released 55 Hamas members who had been freed in exchange for Shalit but re-imprisoned after returning to terror activities. According to Maariv, a source involved in the deal, Israel had agreed to release “all the child prisoners under the age of 18, all the women, and what’s left is just to keep discussing the number of older Palestinian prisoners that must be released”. The source added: “Hamas agreed to release both Israeli civilians who have been held and to give the body of the soldier that has been held since 2014, and to convey information about the fate of a second soldier, the particulars of which it has not divulged.”