ITV News reports that Hezbollah flags flew in central London as supporters were locked in a noisy standoff with counter-protesters. Pro-Palestine protesters chanted “free free Palestine” beneath the yellow flag which is adorned with a gun, yards from the Saudi Embassy at the annual Al Quds Day rally. Police formed a guard between them and the building. Security was very visible. Just yards away stood an equally loud counter-demonstration, including speakers who led that crowd in a shouted chorus of “terrorist flags off of our streets” and “we want peace, they want war”. Conservative MP for Hendon Matthew Offord said: “We should not have to be here on the streets of London protesting against a terrorist flag. We hear there are two wings to Hezbollah, the political wing and the military wing. There is not.” Protesters from both sides had travelled from across the country to be at the event which was within walking distance of London’s busy Oxford Street shopping, tourism and business district.

The Times reports that Israel has deployed mini drones to stop protesters in Gaza sending kites carrying burning coals or other combustible material over the border fence. The IDF said they had brought down at least 500 homemade kites carrying embers, lit rags or explosives since Gazans began a series of border protests on 30 March. The kites, handmade from plastic sheets and simple frames, cost no more than £2 to make but have proved capable of penetrating Israel’s costly Iron Dome air defence system, developed to intercept missiles. The kites have set fire to 2,250 acres of fields and nature reserves, causing damage estimated at almost £2m.

The Times and the Daily Mail via AFP report that Israel said last night that it destroyed a tunnel leading from Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea, which it alleged was ready to be used by militants to try to infiltrate Israel from the sea. The Hamas tunnel gave Hamas special forces troops unseen access to the sea from their base, the Israeli army said Sunday. IDF spokesperson Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said that the tunnel ran from a military facility of Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas into the Mediterranean sea, “a few dozen metres away” at a depth underwater of two to three metres. “It could have facilitated hostile activity against the state of Israel,” he said, adding that the tunnel’s underwater exit was about three kilometres (two miles) from Israel’s border. He said that the tunnel had been used in Hamas training and was “operational”.

The Times reports that Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has arrived in Israel in an attempt to win the country’s blessing for his government, which includes the far-right Freedom Party. Kurz will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. Netanyahu will expect Austria to return the favour by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Israel greeted the inauguration of the Austrian government in December by saying that it would have no contact with ministers from the Freedom Party. Kurz began his visit by going to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. “He wants to rehabilitate Austria’s image while his government includes ministers who once were members of neo-Nazi organisations,” said one Israeli official. The assessment among Israeli and Austrian diplomats was that neither leader would get what he wanted.

The Times reports that fighters backed by Iran are wearing the uniforms of the Syrian army to avoid being targeted by Israeli aircraft, rebel commanders have said. Convoys of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militias are feigning withdrawals near Israel’s borders in the southwest of Syria, but returning disguised in Syrian military uniforms and under Syrian flags, it was reported by The Wall Street Journal. Israel, which fears that Iran is looking to build permanent military infrastructure in Syria from which to strike at its territory, has attacked militias affiliated to Tehran and which back President Assad’s war effort in Syria. The Syrian rebel fighters told the paper that the Iran-backed forces had returned to both Daraa and Quneitra provinces near Israel dressed as regime forces. Some had even been given Syrian identification cards.

The Mail on Sunday published an interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The report was also published in the Independent. In the interview, Assad dismissed Theresa May as “a colonialist and a liar,” and claims Britain even helped stage April’s chemical attack in the suburb of Douma and that its actions are giving support to the Islamic State terror group. Assad also places responsibility for the duration of the seven-year conflict at the feet of Britain and America. Western powers, he said, should get out of Syria and allow the bloodshed to end.

The Guardian reports that an arms sales watchdog has accused the UK government of a serious failure to disclose intelligence that could save the lives of thousands of people involved in ongoing global conflicts. The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) highlighted the dangers of the “diversion” of arms and ammunition legally supplied to Saudi Arabia but then passed on to third-party “proxy fighters” including terror groups, and said the practice was fuelling conflicts.

The Independent  and the Guardian report that a 3,000-year-old sculpture has proven to be a mystery for researchers who have no idea whose face it depicts. The 5cm figurine was discovered in 2017 in a site called Abel Beth Maacah, which sits just south of Israel’s border with Lebanon. Apart from a missing beard and chipped nose, the Old Testament-era sculpture is in excellent condition. However, archaeologists are unsure about who it is supposed to represent. Due to the crown researchers assume the man is some member of royalty, but are unsure who he is or even what kingdom he would have ruled over.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that a heart-warming musical “The Band’s Visit,” about an Egyptian band visiting an Israeli desert town triumphed on New York’s Broadway late Sunday, swept the board winning 10 Tony Awards, the highest honours in American theatre. It was an extraordinary success for a quiet, contemplative, 90-minute production aching with longing for human connection and understanding, far removed from the brash commercialisation of its competitors. While the Arab-Israeli conflict is never referenced, human connections forged through music and culture prove a bridge when the Egyptian musicians wind up in the wrong town owing to a pronunciation error.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that US President Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt lashed out at a veteran Palestinian official on Sunday, saying his “false claims” and rhetoric haven’t brought peace closer. Greenblatt was responding in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper to an earlier column by Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accusing American officials of acting as “spokespeople” for Israel and criticising the US for moving its embassy to Jerusalem. The exchange comes shortly before the Trump administration is expected to unveil its Middle East peace plan. Trump has promised to pursue the “ultimate deal” between Israelis and Palestinians. Greenblatt wrote that Erekat’s claims “were in many respects simply inaccurate.”

In the Israeli media Haaretz publishes as op-ed by Greenblatt, in which he criticises the Palestinian leadership. He writes: “The inaccurate, unhelpful and false rhetoric of Palestinian leaders like Dr Erekat have not brought peace, and never will. It’s time to hear different Palestinian voices with the courage to seize peace.”

In domestic news, Gaza continues to dominate. All the Israeli papers report on the “subaquatic threat”, following the announcement that the IDF destroyed a Hamas offensive terror tunnel in the sea. The tunnel was constructed in a manner similar to a sewage pipe and was meant to conceal members of Hamas’s naval commando unit as they entered the water. The plan was for Hamas divers to carry out a silent amphibious infiltration without being detected by IDF observation posts on the shore. Yediot Ahronot notes a high-ranking officer in the Israel Navy said that they had been aware of the tunnel for several months, and that intelligence officials had been tracking it and waiting for an opportunity to strike. Maariv covers yesterday’s Security Cabinet discussion, noting it convened on the topic after many months of waiting and postponements.  However no decisions were reached.

Maariv also report that Hamas is continuing its firebombs offensive, yesterday, in one hour – ten fires broke out in the Gaza periphery communities, caused by kites carrying firebombs. The Karmei Katif community in the Lachish Regional Council had to be evacuated because of a fire. Local residents are worried by the increase in the use of the incendiary kites in recent weeks and the state’s inability to do anything about it. The paper also includes a suggested solution – “a commercial laser of a few hundred watts that is already available can do the job. There are a few kinds of these lasers. All are small. Most of them are good and efficient and are used in the materials processing industry. Nothing needs to be developed. All you need is to integrate such a laser with the suitable optic system. It’s a simple, short and cheap process.”  Yediot Ahronot includes an alternative solution, an Israeli arms company has developed a new drone to counter the threat.

Haaretz reports that “over 1,500 people demonstrated in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday night calling for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to lift punitive sanctions imposed on Gaza in an attempt to weaken Hamas, the rival Palestinian faction that rules the Strip.”

Jerusalem Post reports the UK organisation Medical Aid for Palestinians “spreads antisemitic messages and funds NGOs linked to the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” according to two pro-Israel legal groups that complained to Britain’s Charity Commission. The Lawfare Project and UK Lawyers for Israel filed the complaint last week, saying that Medical Aid for Palestinians used some of its annual income of £5.4m on political propaganda, deviating from its stated charitable purpose of providing medical aid.

Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz reveal the musical “The Band’s Visit” based on a 2007 Israeli film of the same name won 10 Tony Awards last night, including best musical.