The BBC, Telegraph, and The Guardian lead with Qatar saying it will investigate reports that airport staffed forced women into “invasive examinations” after a baby was found in Hamad Airport on 2 October. The Qatari government said the girl had been found in a plastic bag, buried under rubbish, prompting an “immediate search for the parents, including on flights in the vicinity of where the new-born was found. While the aim of the urgently-decided search was to prevent the perpetrators of the horrible crime from escaping, the State of Qatar regrets any distress or infringement on the personal freedoms of any traveller caused by this action,” a statement read. Australian officials said 13 of its citizens and five women from other countries were taken off one plane, but not all were examined.

Campaigners have filed for a judicial review of the UK government’s decision to renew arms sales to Saudi Arabia, according to The Guardian. The UK government announced in July it was resuming arms sales to the Gulf state, after the Court of Appeal suspended new arm sales and ordered the government to hold a review into the use of British weapons in the Yemeni conflict. Last month, a UN report said countries arming parties involved in the conflict could be “aiding and assisting” war crimes and said there had been “documented patterns” of serious international humanitarian law violations.

The BBC also reports that a recent survey of citizens in the Middle East has found that neither of the two US presidential candidates will be good for the region. Democrat candidate Joe Biden comes out slightly better, partly due to the unpopularity of President Trump’s decision in December 2017 to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, something opposed by 89 per cent of the 3,000 citizens polled by YouGov and the Saudi-owned newspaper Arab News.

More than 50 Syrian opposition fighters have been reportedly killed in an airstrike on a training camp in Idlib, the Independent reports. It was the deadliest attack on Turkish-backed forces in the region since a truce was agreed eight months ago. Najji Mustafa, a spokesperson for the opposition forces, said dozens were killed in what they believed was a Russian air raid on a training camp of Faylaq al-Sham faction, one of the largest Turkish-backed armed groups.

The Telegraph reports that doctors and aid agencies working in northwest Syria are warning of an uncontrollable spread of the coronavirus in Idlib’s overcrowded displacement camps. So far this month, there has been an almost 300 per cent increase in COVID-19 cases in northwest Syria, according to International Rescue Committee.

The Times reports that the sale at Sotheby’s of a watch once owned by George IV along with 268 artefacts from the Museum for Islamic Art has been called the “biggest cultural scandal in Israeli history” by an art historian. The museum was opened in Jerusalem in 1974 with a legacy from the foundation of the Salomons, a British-Jewish family. It claims it needs to sell part of its collection to ensure its future. Critics, however, say it is financially sound. Hili Tropper, Israel’s culture minister, has said he will “do everything we can to prevent the sale”.

The Guardian says anger toward French President Emmanuel Macron is growing following his speech earlier this month announcing his intention to fight “Islamist separatism”, in which he describes the faith as one “that is in crisis all over the world today”. Several states have called for boycotts of French products and there are security warnings for France’s citizens in majority-Muslim states.   

Kan Radio News reports this morning that a preliminary discussion will be held today with government ministers and representatives of the National Security Council ahead of tomorrow’s coronavirus cabinet’s meeting. They will discuss the next stages of the exit plan for the lockdown after some restrictions are lifted on Sunday. Aside from resuming all commercial activity and reopening gyms in the third stage, a proposal to allow restaurants to reopen is also under consideration.

Sever Plocker in Yediot Ahronot reveals the dramatic decline in morbidity in Israel during the second lockdown. In early October, Israel’s rate of positive tests for the coronavirus was 15 per cent, whilst the rate in the US was 4.5 per cent, Britain 3 per cent, and Germany 1.3 per cent. Now, the rate of confirmed cases in Israel is around 3 per cent, one of the lowest places in the West. The rate of confirmed cases in the US has increased to 6 per cent and in Britain it is at 7 per cent. Plocker also calls on the government to exercise discipline and be firm in order to avoid squandering the accomplishment. “What will it take to do that? Not much: telling the truth and not surrendering to populism. Strictly upholding the original exit plan for the lockdown and not allowing classes to restart in any classroom in any school before the Hanukkah break,” he writes.

Maariv notes that the coronavirus cabinet’s decision to allow first- and second-graders to attend school for half a week has angered many parents, with the National Parents Association saying that the government had “forsaken” their children. Kan Radio News reports most teachers believe that remote learning has been ineffective. A survey of 2,000 teachers that the Education Ministry conducted found that online learning has been particularly difficult for elementary school-students in Arab society. It also found that only about half of the teachers have been trained in online education in the past two years. Mayors and chairpersons of local authorities have called for greater autonomy in setting educational policy in keeping with local conditions and resources.

Tensions between the Likud and Blue and White have continued to mount over the coalition’s inability to pass a state budget, which would precipitate new elections and enable Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to backout of the alternating premiership arrangement with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz. The latter lambasted Netanyahu yesterday, accusing him of “endangering Israel’s economic future” out of personal motives. “All of the Israeli economists — from the governor of the Bank of Israel, the top people in the world of finance, former senior Finance Ministry officials — they are all united in the opinion that there is no alternative to approving a budget for 2021,” said Gantz. “The Likud isn’t going to be able to explain to the citizens why it hasn’t looked out for their future and has only looked out for itself, if a budget for next year isn’t advanced.” This comes amidst mounting pressure on Blue and White to vote against the government in upcoming no-confidence motions and potentially prepare for new elections.

Yediot Ahronot reports that Israel is advancing plans to power the Gaza Strip power plant with natural gas from the Leviathan natural gas field, instead of relying on Qatar to purchase diesel to run the plant. Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon met last week with representatives of Israeli corporations, such as Delek, representatives of the Quartet and a delegation of representatives of the Qatari government headed by the special Qatari Envoy to Gaza, Mohammed Al-Emadi. The parties discussed the cost and suitability of the plan. The cost of converting the power plant to natural gas is projected to be in the excess of $100 million. Qatar is expected to cover a significant part of that cost, along with the Quartet members. Once completed, the power plant could produce 560 megawatts of electricity per day (consumption in the Gaza Strip currently stands at around 500 megawatts).

All the Israeli media cover the appointment of Prof. Nachman Ash as the new coronavirus commissioner. He will replace Prof. Ronni Gamzu after a short overlapping period that will allow an orderly transfer of authority. Ash has served in the past as chief of the IDF Medical Corps and is a professor in the health management systems department at Ariel University and director of the medicine division of Maccabi Health of one of Israel’s leading Health Medical Organisations. From November 13 Gamzu will return to his position as director general of Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Centre.