BBC News, The Independent and The Guardian cite the Hamas-run health ministry saying at least 50 Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded in a series of Israeli air strikes in south and central parts of Gaza. One of the deadliest attacks occurred in the recently designated humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, west of the southern city of Khan Younis.

The Guardian reports that Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) has pressed the UK to restore funding to the UN Palestine relief agency Unrwa in the first internal pressure on Labour to shift policy on Israel. Separately from LFI, a group of left Labour MPs announced they were tabling an amendment to the king’s speech calling for funding to be restored.

BBC News reports on northern escalations: “Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah (backed by Iran) have been trading fire across their shared border for the past nine months. If this conflict escalates to all-out war, it could dwarf the destruction in Gaza, draw in Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, and Yemen, spread embers around the Middle East and embroil the US. Iran itself could intervene directly.”

BBC News and The Guardian both report David Lammy has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during his first visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories as foreign secretary. “I’m here to push for a ceasefire,” he said. “The loss of life over the last few months… is horrendous. It has to stop.”

BBC News reports that a Gazan man with Down’s Syndrome was allegedly attacked by an IDF dog and died after receiving only minor first aid from officers.

The Financial Times reports that a prominent Syrian businessman with close ties to President Bashar al-Assad’s government and Iran-backed militant groups in the region was reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike in Syria on Monday. Mohammad Baraa Katerji, 48, was killed when a drone hit his car in Saboura, an area a few kilometres inside Syria near the Lebanese border, said an official with an Iran-backed group, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to discuss the matter.

BBC Sport reports that Belgium will not host their Nations League match against Israel on 6 September over security concerns, the Belgian Football Federation (RBFA) has announced.  The municipal government of Brussels said last month the “very high-risk” Nations League game would not be played at the King Baudouin Stadium because it could spark demonstrations.

The Times reports that Israel has said the fate of Mohammed Deif, the Hamas commander who engineered the group’s attack on October 7 last year, remains unclear after airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday killed dozens of people. The Israeli military confirmed that its airstrikes, which used several tonnes of bunker-buster bombs against a Hamas compound in a humanitarian zone, had killed the senior commander Rafa Salame, who led Hamas’s brigade in Khan Yunis.

The Telegraph reports two pro-Gaza activists have been arrested after laying a Palestinian flag at the Cenotaph in a protest calling for an arms embargo on Israel. The activists, from the protest group Youth Demand, were pictured sitting in front of the war memorial in central London, having written “180,000 killed” in chalk on the road.

The Daily Mail reports that the CIA believes Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is under pressure from his commanders to agree to an urgent ceasefire with Israel due to the extensive suffering of people in Gaza, according to a well-placed source.

Haaretz, Ynet, and Israel Hayom all report on the release of photos taken by Hamas showing five female soldiers employed as field observers at Nahal Oz during the early days of their captivity in the Gaza Strip. They show Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, Liri Albag, Naama Levy, and Karina Ariev with bruises and visible injuries seated with a photo of Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh. Writing for Haaretz, Bar Peleg reports that “according to a military source, the pictures were found inside the Gaza Strip during an operational activity a few weeks ago”. In Ynet, Yael Ciechanover reports that “the girls’ parents issued a joint statement in which they called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal to release their daughters and the other captives held by Hamas in Gaza for the past 283 days, before his planned visit to the US to address Congress”. In her piece for Israel Hayom, Adi Nirman publishes personal profiles of Berger, Gilboa, Albag, Levy, and Ariev.

In Haaretz, Amos Harel writes that “according to the IDF General Staff, a string of successes in battle during these weeks has increased the distress of senior members of Hamas’ military wing, and created better conditions for a deal to free the hostages”. However, he cautions that this does not mean Hamas should be deemed as facing imminent defeat, and that “the army is preparing for a lengthy conflict and admits that any deal would require major concessions by Israel”. This story was accompanied by another report from Yaniv Lubovich, saying that the IDF’s spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, told Al Arabiya that Hamas’s leaders’ obstinacy was preventing a deal from being agreed.

In Yediot Ahronot, Yoav Zitun reports that the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit has said that “nearly half of Hamas’s 30,000-strong terrorist force and three unharmed battalions remain in Gaza and the terror group is likely still armed with long-range rockets and missiles that could reach Tel Aviv and Jerusalem”. Zitun’s report also details the close cooperation between the Israeli Air Force and Southern Command, intelligence efforts, and the elimination of much of Hamas’s leadership in the Gaza Strip.

Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot report on an overnight barrage of at least 85 rockets which were fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel from Lebanon in response to Israeli air strikes. While most rockets landed in open areas, “in Kiryat Shmona, at least seven rockets scored direct hits inside the city and some 10 projectiles were intercepted over Mt. Meron, where an Israeli Air Force monitoring base is located”.

In Haaretz, Yaniv Kubovich, Ran Shimoni, Noa Shpigel, and Josh Breineral report that the IDF is “expected to send around 6,000 draft notices to ultra-Orthodox men who are working or have dropped out of yeshiva”. After the IDF announced the impending draft notices, dozens of ultra-Orthodox men from the extremist Jerusalem Faction blocked Route 4 near Bnei Brak in protest.

Israel Hayom reports on the arrest of three Israelis who were allegedly recruited as agents by Iran’s intelligence services. The plot was uncovered following a joint Shin Bet and Israeli Police investigation. One of the suspects was reportedly a member of the Vizhnitz Hasidic community who was tasked with “various missions, including posting inflammatory materials in Tel Aviv, planting money at specific locations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and delivering packages containing severed animal heads or dolls alongside knives and threatening messages to be left at the doorsteps of Israeli citizens”. While this suspect has now been indicted and charged “with maintaining contact with a foreign agent”, two additional suspects have been released from custody pending a decision post-questioning