The Telegraph, Independent, Times and the online edition of the Financial Times all report comments made by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, who said that the Palestinian unity government supported by Hamas could be dissolved if Hamas continues to reject the single authority of the PA in Gaza. The Times reports that the Hamas response to Abbas’s comments was “angry” while the Financial Times online says that squabbling between the PA and Hamas could cripple efforts to reconstruct Gaza in the wake of Operation Protective Edge. International donors are likely to give funds only to the PA, whose forces are also slated to man the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Writing in the Guardian, Oxford academic and forthright critic of Israeli policy Avi Shlaim writes that Israel must embrace the Palestinian unity government, including Hamas, in order to create any real sense of security in the region.

The Telegraph reports on a night of unrest in East Jerusalem as local Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces in several neighbourhoods, following the death yesterday of a 16-year-old who was killed a week ago in a riot. Locals claim he was shot in the head by Israeli forces, while Israeli authorities say he was shot in the leg with riot dispersal equipment, fell and hit his head. Tension has simmered in East Jerusalem all summer, following the murder of a local Palestinian boy by Jewish Israeli extremists in July, in a revenge attack for the murder of three Jewish Israeli teens.

The Times online includes a feature on a Biblical law soon to have a significant impact on Israeli agriculture. Many religious Jews are bound by the Biblical commandment to leave their land fallow every seventh year in Israel. With Jewish New Year approaching, this period will soon begin. The article examines how Israeli authorities act to help circumvent the edict.

The Times online also reports that Egyptian prosecutors have ordered the arrest of seven men for “debauchery” after they appeared in a video of a gay wedding ceremony on the River Nile. The article says that although homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt, the case is one example of growing intimidation and harassment of Egypt’s gay community.

The Independent online says that a second Lebanese soldier may have been beheaded by ISIS. The first incident last week sparked outrage in Lebanon as protestors accused the government of betraying its troops by doing nothing to stop the beheading. Rumours of a second beheading have led to protestors blocking the road to Tripoli.

In the Israeli media, Maariv leads with claims by an unnamed senior political official, that Hamas is already re-arming in Gaza and digging new tunnels. However, both Israel Hayom and Israel Radio news say that Israeli security officials have denied that there is any such information. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday held a press conference during which he accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of having changed his mind over Hamas. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Shimon Schiffer says that Lieberman “intended to embarrass him [Netanyahu], challenge his leadership and force him to respond in one way or another.”

Maariv highlights a night of violence in East Jerusalem in the wake of the death of a 16-year-old Palestinian during a clash with Israeli security forces a week ago.

Yediot Ahronot leads with exerts from an interview by Ronen Bergman with retired US General and former-CIA chief Michael Hayden, who outlines US strategy to deal with ISIS and also discusses Israeli-US security cooperation.

Meanwhile, the top story in Israel Hayom is the delivery yesterday of a new submarine to Israel’s navy, the INS Tanin. The submarine is the fourth of a new generation now available to Israel and is making its way from a German shipyard to dock in Haifa.