The Guardian and the online edition of the Financial Times report that Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry made a surprise trip to Jerusalem yesterday, where he met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Shoukry was the first senior Egyptian minister to visit Israel for nine years and discussed the prospects of reviving peace efforts. In May Egypt’s President al-Sisi suggested a new Egyptian-spearheaded drive for a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), within the context of a wider regional settlement. Netanyahu has welcomed al-Sisi’s initiative. Shoukry’s visit is another sign of growing relations between Israel and Egypt, who signed a peace agreement in 1979.

The i reports that Israel’s government has approved almost £10m to strengthen Israeli settlements in the West Bank cities of Hebron and nearby Kiryat Arba. A 13-year-old Israeli girl was recently stabbed to death in her bed in Kiryat Arba by a Palestinian teenager.

The Times and the online edition of the Guardian cover an announcement yesterday by Israel’s Attorney General, who said that an inquiry has been opened into “matters” related to Prime Minister Netanyahu, but emphasised that no criminal investigation has been launched. Speculation has been rife in the Israeli media over the weekend regarding new allegations against Netanyahu, with suggestions repeated by the Times that they involve large-scale money laundering.

The Telegraph online includes a feature on strained relations between Israel and some sections of the United States’ Jewish community, especially in the wake of the Israeli rabbinate’s refusal to accept the conversions of a prominent American Orthodox rabbi, who converted Donald Trump’s daughter. The feature also highlights disagreement between the Israeli religious establishment and much of American Jewry over prayer rights at the Western Wall, as another point of friction.

The Telegraph, Guardian, i and the online edition of the Independent report that the first Philistine cemetery has been discovered near the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. Little is known about the Philistines, but they are thought to have ruled the area around the 12 century BCE.

Meanwhile, the Guardian online and the Independent online both cover a report by research group IHS, which says that during the first half of 2016, ISIS lost around 12 per cent of the territory it held in Syria and Iraq.

In the Israeli media, Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot all lead with the announcement last night by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, that an inquiry has been launched into allegations against Prime Minister Netanyahu, but not a criminal investigation. Israel Radio news points out that Mandelblit added much of the speculation in the media is not correct. The same report says that Netanyahu’s office has insisted that much like previous allegations, the current inquiry will also come to nothing.

The visit of Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to Israel yesterday is a major item in Yediot Ahronot, Haaretz and Israel Hayom. Israel Radio news reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said that his meeting with Shoukry was very positive. Writing in Maariv, Yossi Melman says that Israel’s recent reconciliation with Turkey and Netanyahu’s visit last week to Africa, have helped strengthen “Israel’s standing as a regional power”. However, Melman says that “Egypt expects a quid pro quo from Israel,” in the form of growing consent towards relations with the PA.

Meanwhile, Israel Radio news says that the family of Oren Shaul, an Israeli soldier presumed killed in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge two years ago, is intending to hold a protest outside a prison which houses Hamas terrorists. They will protest that Hamas members are permitted family visits, while Hamas refuses to allow them information on their missing relative, whose body is thought to be in their hands.