The BBC, The Guardian, The Times, Reuters, The Daily Mail, and The Evening Standard all report that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Monday before heading on to Israel, after warning that the Gaza war could spread across the region without concerted peace efforts. Blinken started a five-day Middle East diplomatic effort in Jordan and Qatar on Sunday, seeking to avert a wider war in the region. He is also due to visit the West Bank and Egypt this week. The Guardian and The Financial Times also publish pieces on how far across the Middle East war could spread.

Sky News, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Channel 4, The Daily Mail and The BBC report that Israel claims to have killed 8,000 Hamas fighters in northern Gaza alone, as the US warns failing to prevent the conflict from spreading in the Middle East would lead to an “endless cycle of violence”. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli troops had now finished dismantling Hamas’s “military framework” in the north of the Gaza Strip. Mark Regev, speaking to The Sun, said that Israel is entering the “beginning of the end” of its war on Hamas.

The Telegraph reports that Israel is unlikely to win a war against the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah if it decides to open a new front on its northern border, according to a confidential report by US intelligence. The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) found that the IDF would be too stretched by fighting on two fronts, with the air force already overworked by constant raids on Gaza.

The Telegraph reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly demanded high ranking Israeli officials take lie detector tests, saying too many government deliberations are being leaked to the press. “We have a plague of leaks, and I am not willing to continue like this, which is why I directed the promotion of a law that everyone who sits in cabinets and security discussions, including the political and professional ranks – will undergo a polygraph,” Mr Netanyahu said during Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Channel 12 reported.

Former US Vice President Mike Pence spoke to Sky News after visiting the kibbutz known as Kfar Azar – one of the worst-hit communities during Hamas’ October attack. Mr Pence said: “I think when you literally walk the streets of the kibbutz and you look into these homes and the bloodstains and bullet-riddled walls, you understand that Israel is doing what needs to be done. “Ultimately I believe that the innocent loss of life that has occurred in Gaza ultimately should be laid at the feet of Hamas and that’s why I believe Israel must continue to fight until the threat of Hamas is destroyed.”

Sky News also reports that Israeli police have accidentally killed a young Palestinian girl after opening fire on a car suspected of a ramming attack, emergency services in Israel have said. The border police said they fatally shot the girl, reported to be three or four years old, after firing at a couple in a car who, they said, rammed into two Israeli officers at a West Bank checkpoint.

The Guardian writes that Israel has denounced South Africa’s legal action at the international court of justice accusing Israel of genocide and war crimes in Gaza as amounting to support for Hamas. Israel called the charge that it was intentionally killing thousands of Palestinian civilians – which the ICJ is expected to start hearing on Thursday – a “blood libel”. Jewish organisations in South Africa accused the ruling African National Congress of siding with terrorism and antisemitism. Reuters publishes an explainer on what the ICJ is, and what South Africa is accusing Israel of.

Reuters reports on the families of remaining Israeli hostages, saying: “as Israel’s vigil for its hostages in Gaza moves into a fourth month, a sense that time is passing while world attention shifts elsewhere has deepened the anguish felt by their families as hopes have faded for a deal to secure their release.” The Financial Times publishes an interview with a Thai worker who was taken hostage by Hamas. The Daily Mail publishes a piece on a pregnant mother whose husband was kidnapped by Hamas. Michal Lobanov, 28, said she has been left “depressed”, “alone” and filled with “hate” towards Hamas after they abducted her 32-year-old husband, Alexander.

The BBC reports that the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief has been killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza. Hamza al-Dahdouh, an Al Jazeera network journalist and cameraman, was with other journalists on a road between Khan Younis and Rafah when a drone strike hit. Freelance journalist Mustafa Thuraya was also killed. Four other members of bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh’s family were also killed in October.

The Guardian reports that hundreds of protesters in London staged a sit-in on Westminster Bridge on Saturday, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in the first big demonstration of the year. Elsewhere on Saturday, there were protests in Belfast and Dublin.

Zoe Strimpel writes in The Telegraph that: “to us, the lesson of Israel should be clear. If we in the West want to continue to live in a world that lets us forget evil, violence and death, we need to acknowledge those forces evil and fight hard against them. Now.”

The Telegraph also reports that the IDF has brought an enormous radar blimp out of retirement to patrol its border with Lebanon. The Sky Dew, a white high-altitude balloon which is used to detect missiles and drones, was retired in 2022 amid unspecified setbacks in its development. But it has now been confirmed to be back in use after being photographed over northern Israel on Saturday.

The Daily Mail reports that Palestinian children are being sent to Hamas terror training camps where they learn to hold rifles, fire weapons, and navigate its vast underground tunnel network. Israel’s military released photographs of children in Gaza holding machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

The Daily Mail also reports that UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps’ daughter has dropped a module on Israel and Palestine at university after hearing “antisemitic chants” on campus that left her feeling unsafe as a Jewish student. Tabytha Shapps, 19, said she felt intimidated by the controversial “from the river to the sea” chants and “end Israeli state terror” placards at pro-Palestine protests at the University of Leeds.

Israel Hayom’s Ariel Kahana addresses talk of an Arab or international regime taking control in Gaza on ‘the day after’. Of these prospects, he writes: “the more the war advances, the more that day after gets pushed into the distance, for several reasons. First, the IDF has encountered a scope of tunnels and arms caches that is several times larger than anticipated, not to mention the fact that the IDF hasn’t yet dealt with the Rafah area and hasn’t sealed the smuggling routes beneath Philadelphi Road. Until those tasks are completed—and that could take years—it will be impossible to begin building a new governmental mechanism. Second, unless Gaza is purged of terrorists, it will pose a threat to any foreign power that goes there. That is the case with respect to the tunnels and the quantities of rockets and explosives that are everywhere. That is even more so the case with respect to armed squads, which will challenge every foreign police officer. Why should any foreign country risk its own personnel? Third, it will be particularly hard for the Arab regimes to be perceived as entering Gaza to govern on the IDF’s bayonets. Any decision to do so is likely to be perceived as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause that would foment unrest in the streets. A massive effort will first have to be made to persuade the Gazan population before action of that kind is taken.”

The Israeli media reports that, acting on the advice of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Prime Minister Netanyahu asked Aharon Barak, the former Supreme Court president, to serve as a judge in the ICJ hearing of a complaint lodged by South Africa accusing Israel of acts “genocidal in nature” in its Gaza. Yediot Ahronot claims that Barak was not the government’s first choice. “Their initial plan was to appoint a prominent legal expert who supports Israel and is recognised as an authority by the international community, but who is not an Israeli citizen. The person they chose was a world-famous American justice, but that person turned down the offer. It was then decided that Barak, 87, was the right man for the job.” The paper’s Itamar Eichner and Tova Tzimuki write that Barak is “considered one of the leading legal experts in the world on issues of international law in the areas of terrorism, security and settlements. His many judicial opinions on Israeli security in the face of terrorism in the eyes of international law are studied in law schools around the world, as well as by governments dealing with terror threats.”

Haaretz’s Yossi Verter writes in similar terms, and says that “at a time of legal troubles in the international arena, Israel has only one person to rely on. Barak is the greatest living Israeli legal scholar. In the most prestigious schools of law in the United States and Great Britain, his name is mentioned with reverence.”

Haaretz reports criticism of the prospective appointment from coalition MKs Tally Gotliv and Miri Regev (both Likud) and Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism). In this context, Yediot Ahronot’s Nadav Eyal writes that the request for him to serve now comes “under circumstances that keenly illustrate the need for him, as well as the utter injustice that was done to him and to the entire justice system in the year of the crass, foolish, crude, anti-democratic and dangerous judicial coup… Barak took all of the nasty and vapid populism in stride. At no point did Netanyahu give the following simple order: Leave him alone. And Netanyahu knows just how much Barak has to his credit. He knows that Barak is a security-minded [Israeli], a patriot and a Zionist. A supreme defender of the State of Israel in every forum. But the prime minister allowed his attack dogs to charge ahead and maul Barak and all of the others.”

Haaretz reports anti-government protesters demanding immediate elections being removed from the Knesset entrance by police this morning.

Following last week’s reports of attacks on IDF Chief of Staff Halevi during a Security Cabinet meeting, Kan Radio reports Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton (National Unity Party) saying that attacks on him were attacks on the IDF itself. “The security cabinet deliberations must be secret. All leaks from them are damaging to national security. The prime minister should take the reins and start to manage them because at the end of the day, it is his responsibility.” Halevi’s decision to appoint a team of senior reserve officers to conduct the enquiry into October 7^th met with broad public support in Kan News’  latest polling, with 55 percent of voters in favour to 20 against. The same poll finds Prime Minister Netanyahu trailing Benny Gantz 46 percent to 25 percent on who would make the better prime minister. 64 percent of respondents said that Netanyahu’s performance during the war had been “overall not good.” The same judgement was made even by 38 percent of Likud voters. 67 percent of voters, meanwhile, approved of Halevi’s performance, and 63 percent of Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Kan Radio also reports that the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council and the city of Sderot have announced that school children in their areas will not be returning to school in three weeks time, as the Education Ministry had announced they would be. Deputy head of the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, Yossi Keren, said “this decision was completely divorced from reality, one that was made over our—the local council leaders’—heads. I really hope everyone sitting around the government table [has the view that] the economic strain is not more important to him than the safety of my children here in the Council.”

Maariv reports comments yesterday from Prime Minister Netanyahu, relating to the northern border. Netanyahu said, “Hezbollah will come to understand what Hamas has understood: no terrorist is immune.” Netanyahu went on to say, “We won’t stop until we win. I say that both to our enemies and to our friends. I have a clear message for our enemies: what happened on October 7 won’t happen again. I’d advise Hezbollah to learn what Hamas has learned in the past months.” Opposition leader Yair Lapid, while sceptical that a diplomatic agreement could be reached, criticised the government for not pursuing one aggressively enough. “Political action backed up with a military threat is the way,” he said. “If that doesn’t work out, Israel will use force. We won’t  agree for the residents of the north to be in hotels in the centre forever.” Lapid also responded to claims that his (previous) government’s maritime deal with Lebanon had emboldened and enabled Hezbollah. “That’s utter nonsense,” he said. “We reached that agreement despite Hizbullah, completely against their wishes, and the fact that there isn’t war with Hizbullah might be because we deterred them.”