The Independent and Independent i both cover a report in Haaretz yesterday which suggested that senior IDF officers have recommended to Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon that restrictions on the Gaza Strip be eased. Their recommendations include opening the Karni crossing to goods and permitting thousands of Gazans to work in Israeli border communities. The officers apparently believe that increased Gazan economic prosperity is key to reducing military tensions.

The Telegraph reports comments made by a High Court judge in Israel which indicated that a ruling is imminent which would force Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give up the four additional ministerial portfolios which he currently holds, including the foreign and health ministries. Such a ruling would increase tensions between right-wing MKs and the judiciary and would hand Netanyahu a difficult task in filling the subsequent ministerial vacancies.

The Guardian and the online edition of the Independent both cover Palestinian claims that 17-year-old Mohammed al-Kasbeh was shot in the back and killed last week by an IDF officer as he fled the scene of a stone-throwing incident. The officer in question says that he came under a barrage of stones and he opened fire believing that his life was in danger.

In the fifth part of a series of features to mark a year after Operation Protective Edge, the Independent assesses the global diplomatic aftermath and says that support for Israel shows signs of ebbing.

There are several analysis and commentary items regarding the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany). In the Financial Times, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif writes that Iran is not interested in a nuclear weapon as a matter of principle. He even suggests that Tehran wishes to cooperate with the West in fighting terror, especially ISIS. In the Telegraph, David Blair says that deadlines are of limited importance as the United States and Iran already agreed to the central bargain that Tehran will reduce its uranium in return for an end to sanctions. And in the Guardian, Ian Black interviews Iran’s former President Ayatollah Akhbar Rafsanjani, who says that the current nuclear talks have “broken a taboo” but that “we cannot have a good relationship with the United States” so long as Palestinian rights are violated.

In the Israeli media, a major item in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom is an agreement reached yesterday between Likud and Yisrael Beitenu to cooperate on candidates for the judicial selection committee. It is the first sign of cooperation between the two parties since Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman surprisingly turned down the chance to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government following March’s general election. However, in Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon plays down the prospect that yesterday’s coordination is a precursor to widening the coalition, saying “Everyone can relax: Lieberman is not on his way into the government. Seriously.”

Israel Radio news covers a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip yesterday, which marked a year since Operation Protective Edge. At the event, Hamas claimed that it has developed two new models of rockets. The rally also featured three IDF military dog tags, one with the name and identification number of Israeli soldier Oron Shaul, who was killed in Gaza last summer and his body never retrieved. The other two dog tags featured question marks.

In a separate item, Israel Radio news says that Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met yesterday with Histadrut trade union chairman Avi Nissenkorn to try to head off the threat of a general strike on 22 July over conditions for contract workers. The two agreed to continue the negotiations.