The BBC reports that Egyptian authorities have are “temporarily closing” the investigation into the 2016 murder of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, with the killer “still unknown”. It comes as Italian prosecutors are said to be planning to put up to five members of the Egyptian security forces on trial in Italy in absentia. Italian investigators suspect the student was targeted by Egyptian security forces because of his research into independent trade unions – a politically controversial topic in Egypt.

The Financial Times reports that Israel’s unity government is on the verge of collapse. It quotes “an ally of Netanyahu on the party’s central committee”, who say: “It’s not Likud’s choice, but to save the country from dysfunction, maybe elections are what is needed.” However, the report claims that whilst Netanyahu protests that he prefers unity, his actions show just the opposite, citing his refusal to pass a budget, keeping his coalition partners in the dark about his foreign policy and his “assault on the judiciary and the state’s attorneys” as his court case start date approaches.

The Times leads with a report by Hannah Lucinda Smith in which she says Turkey is no longer considered a safe haven for critics of Iran living in exile. Thousands of Iranians have bought property in the past two years in order to claim Turkish citizenship, according to the report. But many are escaping punishment at the hands of the regime in Tehran. Yet Turkey, which was once considered a reasonably safe haven, is turning into an increasingly hostile environment for critics of the Iranian regime.

The Telegraph leads with Iran denying one of its commanders was killed in a drone strike on the Syria-Iraq border over the weekend, coming days after the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist outside Tehran that Iran has blamed on Israel. The report notes that the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered a review of the government’s protection units, feeling embarrassed to the apparent ease with which assassins are able to target Iranian figures at home and abroad.

The Guardian and the Financial Times report that the Iranian foreign ministry has been forced to disown a bill passed by the country’s parliament requiring the government to step up uranium enrichment closer to the level needed for a nuclear weapon in retaliation for the assassination of its nuclear scientist last week. Meanwhile, the Independent notes that the head of Iran’s national security council, Ali Shamkhani, has claimed that the electronic weapon used to kill Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was made in Israel.

In The Times, Daniel Finkelstein argues that the incoming US secretary of state’s family experience of the Holocaust will dictate what sort of foreign policy the Biden administration will take.

In The Telegraph, Con Coughlin writes that President Trump’s last months in office have sparked a new rush to make good on his pledge to bring US troops home, risking handing Afghanistan back to the Taliban which he calls “one of Washington’s deadliest foes”.

In the Guardian, Jeremy Havardi writes that antisemitism manifests itself, in part, by denying Jews their collective right to self-determination in defence of the IHRA’s definition.

In the Hebrew media, most of the papers are concentrated on the prospects of elections. In Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon writes that Benny Gantz’s decision to both vote in the preliminary reading of today’s bill to dissolve the Knesset and to leave an opening for Netanyahu to avoid elections “only confirmed the old maxim that people don’t truly change”. Kadmon adds that even if the bill passes its preliminary reading today, it still must go through the Knesset committee and three further votes. “A whole lot can happen in the window of opportunity that that leaves open. That may be what made the decision easier for Gantz to make — the fact that is still reversible. If Netanyahu truly doesn’t want elections, he will find a way to make that possible.” In contrast, Channel 12 News’s Amit Segal argues “The die has been cast. Elections for the 24th Knesset have begun.” Segal adds that “contrary to Netanyahu’s accusations, it isn’t the alternate prime minister who is forcing Israel into early elections; rather, it was he who has done so by refusing to turn over the reins of power and by refusing to pass a state budget.”

Kan Radio News reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s lawyers are preparing a new request to the Knesset to grant Netanyahu parliamentary immunity from prosecution. Netanyahu’s representatives wrote to the Jerusalem District Court that the prime minister’s decision to withdraw his request for parliamentary immunity to the previous Knesset had stemmed from a mistake that he made after having been misled by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. The lawyers argued that Mandelblit had failed to meet the legal requirement to submit Netanyahu’s indictment to the chairman of the Knesset House Committee — a committee that did not exist at the time [because a transitional government was in power] and, as such, the immunity process was never begun. If the court accepts the lawyers’ argument, Netanyahu will be able to seek parliamentary immunity once again.

Israel Hayom reports that the UN Security Council is unlikely to act on the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Despite Tehran demanding the UN act just hours after the assassination last Friday, South Africa’s UN ambassador, Jerry Matjila, council president for December, said yesterday that no member had so far requested to discuss the killing or Iran in general. Diplomats also said there had been no discussion of a statement.

Haaretz notes that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza, has contracted COVID-19. According to Hamas, Sinwar feels well and is working as usual while adhering to COVID guidelines. The Strip has suffered record numbers of coronavirus cases over past weeks, with diagnoses soaring past 5,000.

The Times of Israel reports that Israel’s 1^st commercial flight from Tel Aviv landed in Dubai yesterday. The flight passed over Saudi Arabia after receiving last-minute overflight permission from the kingdom. “A truly festive day,” the pilot told Prime Minister Netanyahu in a phone call, in which the latter responded saying the flight was the “embodiment of peace”. Meanwhile, Yediot Ahronot reports that Israel’s security bodies and government officials are set to recommend to the coronavirus cabinet to force travellers returning from virus-hit countries into quarantine, after official data showed that only 25 per cent of those arriving from “red” countries enter the mandatory, two-week isolation.