The Daily Mail reports that US President Donald Trump denied that the planned relocation of the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would take place within a year, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected the move to happen in 2018. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last month the embassy move was “probably no earlier than three years out, and that’s pretty ambitious,” a timeframe that administration officials have attributed to the logistics of finding and securing a site as well as arranging housing for diplomats. The Daily Mail via AP reports that Abbas told a conference in Egypt that the United States has disqualified itself from continuing as a broker in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He stated that Trump’s decision to recognise contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was “sinful” and “ill-fated”.

The Independent reports that a group of Israeli rabbis have launched an “Anne Frank-inspired” activist programme to protect African asylum seekers facing forced expulsion from their homes. The sister of comedian Sarah Silverman is among those leading the movement, which hopes to help around 40,000 African asylum seekers, largely from Sudan and Eritrea. The Anne Frank Home Sanctuary launched by Rabbis for Human Rights aims to house asylum seekers.

The Independent, BBC News Online, the Daily Mail via AFP, the Guardian and the Sun report that an Israel Defence Forces (IDF ) judge has ordered the Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi to be held in custody during her trial, possibly for months. Ahed was arrested last month after a video showed her hitting two Israeli soldiers. The teenager’s mother has also been ordered to be held until the trial. The charges relate to events in the video and five other incidents. They include stone-throwing, incitement and making threats. Ahed has been involved in a series of previous incidents, and older pictures of her confronting soldiers have been widely published.

BBC News Online, the Independent and the Sun report on the case of Oliver McAfee, the missing British cyclist in the Negev desert. BBC News Online spoke with Israeli police who believe he is still alive. “If he is still alive and we believe he is still alive, he could hopefully be out somewhere camping, drinking and possibly eating from other sources,” said Israel Police spokesperson Supt Micky Rosenfeld.

BBC News Online, Yahoo News UK and the Daily Mail via AFP report that the UN has expressed serious concern at the US decision to withhold more than half of the total funding for the agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). UN Secretary General António Guterres said it could be forced to cut health care, education and social services.

The Independent has published an opinion column by Robert Fisk on Trump and the Middle East, writing that “Trump, in whatever fantastical, delusional form, is making the Middle East a more brutal and cruel place, and will continue to do so, aided by his ever-smiling, ever hopeless son-in-law and his clutch of generals”.

The Financial Times reports Saudi Arabia said it would inject $2bn into Yemen’s central bank a day after the Yemeni prime minister appealed for help to prop up the country’s currency. Saudi Arabia’s state news agency reported on Wednesday that the funds would be transferred to the central bank “with the aim of boosting Yemen’s financial and economic situation”.

According to Maariv, US President Donald Trump said that the American Embassy in Israel would not be moved to Jerusalem within the year. Trump was asked in an interview about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that the Embassy would be moved within the year and answered that there were different scenarios but that the Embassy was not expected to be moved by the end of 2018.  Israel Hayom reports that Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, will arrive in Israel today and hold consultations following Abu Mazen’s recent statements.  The paper cites an “unofficial source” that the Americans want to do a “situation assessment,” in view of recent developments including, the Trump Declaration on Jerusalem; planned Israeli construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank; leaked reports of the core US guidelines for a future agreement between Israel and the Palestinians; and the US intention to significantly reduce support for UNRWA.

Yediot Ahronot and Maariv report comments yesterday by Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who called on Netanyahu to fire Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot for “weakening” the army by creating gender-integrated units. The Rabbi’s statements were condemned across the political spectrum including by the defence minister and prime minister who both supported the chief of staff and endorsed the integration of women in IDF units. Also in Maariv, three prominent national-religious rabbis sent a letter to Eisenkot in which they offered their support to him.

Maariv also includes statistical data on female service in the IDF, noting only 49 women have completed flight school since the High Court of Justice ruling over 20 years ago.  The Air Force believes that the number could be drastically increased, while the paper says: “More than 40 female officers currently serve in both compulsory service and as reserve pilots, out of which five are fighter pilots, 20 are combat navigators, 11 are helicopter pilots, and ten are transport plane pilots or navigators.”  The paper notes a recent change to show more flexibility and enable outstanding female officers to balance starting a family with potential command positions.  The integration of women has increased in other field units as well. The number of female combat soldiers in the IDF has increased from 500 to about 2,700 within six years, mostly due to mixed gender battalions assigned to border patrol tasks. Female soldiers in compulsory and career service constitute about 30 per cent of soldiers serving in the IDF. A total of 14 per cent of lieutenant colonels, 8 per cent of colonels, and 7.5 per cent of brigadier generals in the IDF are women.  There is also an increase in religious young women serving. A total of 935 religious women enlisted in the IDF in 2010; in 2017 it was over 2,700.

The papers continue to follow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit in India. This morning Maariv and Haaretz suggest the deal for India to purchase Israeli anti-tank missiles is back on the table.  According to Haaretz, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat believes the current talks are “trending in a positive direction, and the details will be finalised later on”.  However, the deal may only be worth half of the originally agreed cost of $500m.  Israel Hayom hails this as a significant achievement and a successful outcome of the visit.

Yediot Ahronot reports an emotional plea from a group of 35 prominent Israeli novelists and poets, who have signed a letter calling on the government not to implement the plan to force African asylum seekers to leave Israel. The letter, which was signed by David Grossman, A. B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz and others, reads: “Our history as a people is turning in this grave that is now being dug for it. Jews mustn’t persecute and expel refugees, the State of Israel must not instigate that humanitarian catastrophe.”

Maariv and Haaretz both report that the police have established an evidentiary basis for indicting the five people who are implicated in case 3,000, the naval vessels affair: Attorney David Shimron and his partner Attorney Yitzhak Molcho; the former commander of the Navy, Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Marom; the former chief of staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, David Sharan; and the former Navy officer, Brig. Gen. (res.) Avriel Bar-Yosef.  According to Maariv, Molcho is suspected of a failure to report a conflict of interest, given the fact that his law firm partner is Shimron, who represented ThyssenKrupp’s agent in Israel, Mickey Ganor, while Molcho served as a senior adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office. Ganor, who has since has become a state’s witness, is said to have told the police that Shimron was to have shared some of his profits from the submarines deal.