The Independent and the Daily Mail report that Israel has reopened the goods crossing into Gaza. The Independent reports that Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s defence minister, decided to expand the fishing zones from three to nine nautical miles across most of Gaza’s coastline. Israel said it had originally implemented the restrictions in response to Palestinian protesters launching burning kites. The Daily Mail reports that an Israeli official said that an initial set of “understandings” had been reached with the help of Egypt and United Nations’ officials, leading to calm over the last several days and the opening of the crossing. However, the official, warned there could be no “real arrangement with Hamas” unless it returned the remains of two soldiers it is believed to be holding — a key sticking point.

The Times, FT, Reuters and the Express report on Qatari investment to alleviate Turkey’s economic crisis. The Times reports that Qatar will invest $15bn into Turkey to help shore up its faltering finances. Qatari investment is the first big financial commitment that Ankara has secured from an ally since Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey for the detention of a US pastor on terrorism-related charges. The FT reports that a Turkish official said the funds would “provide rapid funds to the financial markets and the banks.” Reuters reports that the investment package was announced after Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani met President Tayyip Erdogan. Qatar’s royal court released a statement saying Al-Thani “issued directives that will see the State of Qatar to provide a host of economic projects, investments, and deposits” worth $15 billion to support the Turkish economy. Erdogan’s spokesman praised Qatari-Turkish relations on Twitter. “The fundamentals of the Turkish economy are robust and Turkey will emerge stronger from this process,” Ibrahim Kalin wrote. The Express reports that Al-Thani stated that “we stand by our brothers in Turkey that have stood with the issues of the Muslim world and with Qatar.” Qatar’s Ambassador to Turkey, Salem bin Mubarak Al Shafi, noted that Turkey was a “strategic ally” of Qatar, and stated the strong relations between the two nations “enjoys a special status among our people”.

The Times and the Daily Mail report on further revelations from the wreath laying ceremony in Tunis attended by Jeremy Corbyn. The Times reports that Corbyn stood alongside Maher al-Taher, the leader-in-exile of the proscribed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) at the wreath-laying ceremony in Tunisia in 2014. A month later the PFLP claimed responsibility for an axe attack at a Jerusalem synagogue in which four rabbis were killed during morning prayers. Following the attack, a statement on the group’s website said: “No place in Jerusalem should be safe so long as the Palestinian people are not safe.” The Daily Mail reports that Corbyn met Taher in Tunisia a year before being elected as Labour leader, but the PFLP had already been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the EU for two years. One Rabbi murdered by the PFLP was a British citizen, Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68. His widow, Brianna, said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn should not be associating with men like that. They kill to satisfy their political needs. He needs to come to Israel to see how things really are.’

The Daily Mail reports that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has lashed out at the US over its proposals to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. Abbas in a speech said of U.S. officials: “I swear to God, they are liars.” Abbas added that he believes the U.S. is trying to promote Gaza aid projects to serve its own interests.

Yediot Ahronot reports that the Security Cabinet met yesterday for four-hours to assess the understandings that have been reached with Hamas with the help of Egyptian mediators and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov. Security officials said they believed that Israel’s attack on the [high-rise] building in Gaza City is what prompted Hamas to agree to those understandings.

In Maariv, Yossi Melman writes: “The two sides have essentially restored the situation to the one that prevailed for four years in the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge [a situation that lasted until March 30]. That means, contrary to statements made by Defence Minister Lieberman last night, that Israel is engaged in indirect negotiations with Hamas. The two sides also squandered the quiet that reigned throughout those four years and failed to leverage it into a long-term truce arrangement. They are trying to do that now, but the chances of success aren’t great. The gaps are as wide as they have ever been. A senior Israeli political official said last night that no progress towards a truce arrangement would be possible without a prisoner exchange deal.”

Lieberman told Israel Hayom that “my strategy is to talk directly with the public and not with the Hamas leadership. The people in Gaza must understand that they gain as long as there is security quiet, and they lose as long as there isn’t. My goal is for the people to rise up and to replace the regime. We don’t want to conquer Gaza”.

The Times of Israel and Haaretz report that the military Advocate Heneral has decided to close its investigation into “Black Friday,” the name for the IDF’s offensive in the city of Rafah during the 2014 Gaza war in which approximately 70 Palestinian civilians were killed, alongside some 40 armed combatants. An IDF statement concluded: “The findings of the investigation indicate clearly that IDF troops were acting to prevent the capture of Lt. Hadar Goldin, may his memory be blessed, and to attack terror groups in the area, using attacks on military targets and combatants”. Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Sharon Afek determined that commanders in the field acted “to prevent injury to uninvolved civilians”. The B’Tselem NGO condemned the decision saying: “The military advocate general again proves that it does not matter how many Palestinians are killed and how arbitrary the reasons are for their deaths by the army.”

Maariv reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Security Cabinet he will increase the defence budget. The plan is called “Defence Outlook 2030, and includes an increase of NIS 2-4bn per annum in the next few decades which will amount to 0.2%-0.3% of GDP, concurrent with further military streamlining.  However, also in Maariv, Yossi Melman writes that “it is hard to believe that [Finance Minister] Kahlon will agree to those demands, especially now that we have just learned that housing prices are once again on the rise. As such, it seems unlikely that that initiative is going to go very far. The scent of elections is in the air”.