The Financial Times, Evening Standard and Guardian all report that Israel dropped leaflets over northern Gaza, urging residents to leave their homes for their own safety in a possible indication that Israel is planning to expand Operation Protective Edge, as it attempts to quell rocket fire from Gaza. Both David Blair in the Telegraph and coverage in the Guardian say that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon face a critical moment, where he must decide on whether to launch a potentially costly ground operation, in the wake of Hamas’s rejection of an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire on Tuesday. Writing in the Independent, Anne Gearan says that an incursion could force the Obama Administration to rein in Israel.

There is widespread coverage of the killing yesterday of four Palestinian boys aged 9-11 on a Gaza beach, when they were struck by an Israeli missile launched by sea. The Daily Mail, Independent, Telegraph, Independent i, Daily Express, Times, Daily Mirror, Metro, Financial Times and Sun all widely report the incident, as does Peter Beaumont in the Guardian who witnessed the events unfold. The IDF described the killings as “tragic” and said it is investigating the circumstances of the air strike.

An editorial in the Guardian says that the solution to the conflict is to “relieve” Hamas from its isolation by allowing it to renew its partnership with Fatah, difficult as that may be for both Israel and indeed Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. A Financial Times editorial concludes that it would be an illusion to think that Israel can remain an “oasis of peace and prosperity” in a region “on fire” while there remains no tangible prospect of Palestinian statehood.

In other commentary, Catherine Philip in the Times suggests that Hamas is continuing the conflict because it hopes to elicit greater support from potential allies Turkey and Qatar. In the Guardian, Seamus Milne says that Israeli occupation is the root of Gaza’s woes and that the situation will only change when “Palestinians and their supporters are able to raise its price to the occupier.” In the Independent i, Mira Bar-Hillel suggests that one reason why conflict is embedded in the region is an Israeli attitude dating back to the 1950s which shunned local Palestinian Arabs as “the other.”

In other regional news, the Independent i and the online editions of the Guardian and Financial Times all report that negotiations between the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) and Iran over Tehran’s long-term nuclear programme are likely to be extended. All say that talks currently taking place in Vienna have generated enough promise to agree an extension.

In the Israeli media, the agreement last night by Israel and later by Hamas to a five-hour humanitarian truce, suggested by the United Nations is the top item. It is the lead story in Maariv, Israel Hayom, Haaretz, Makor Rishon and in Yediot Ahronot which asks whether Hamas will abide by the temporary ceasefire. The deaths of four Palestinian boys on a Gaza beach yesterday as a result of an Israeli air strike is also covered prominently in Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom, Haaretz and Makor Rishon. Meanwhile, Makor Rishon and Israel Hayom also focus on the decision to call up an additional 8,000 reservists, which Israel Radio news reports a military source says is intended to increase the pressure on Hamas.

There is also speculation regarding what appears to be ongoing talks about a broader ceasefire taking place in Egypt’s capital Cairo. Although Hamas on Tuesday rejected an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire which Israel approved, Israel Radio news says that Egypt is arbitrating between the two sides in a Cairo hotel. Both Alex Fishman in Yediot Ahronot and Ben Caspit in Maariv speculate that although Hamas is presenting maximalist positions, it is keen to end the fighting and had felt insulted by Egypt’s public proposal earlier in the week without having been consulted.