BBC News Online, The Daily Mail the Guardian and the Telegraph report that an Iranian-British academic detained in Iran was arrested for spying, according to Iranian news agencies, quoting an “unidentified informed source”. Abbas Edalat, a Professor at London’s Imperial College, was reportedly detained on 15 April while attending an academic workshop in Tehran. The Foreign Office says it is “urgently looking into” reports of his arrest. Imperial College said it was “understandably concerned” for Prof Edalat’s welfare. According to the agencies the source described Prof Edalat as part of a “network” of British spies whose members have been identified and arrested. So far the Foreign Office has not commented on the spying allegations.

The Guardian, BBC News Online and the Daily Mail via AFP report that ten Israeli teenagers who were hiking south of the Dead Sea have been killed by flash floods. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 25 students in a pre-army course were “caught off guard” near Arava in southern Israel and some were “washed away” by heavy rains. The Dead Sea, the world’s lowest point at about 1,400ft below sea level, is surrounded by desert and generally arid cliffs. Rain can rush down the steep descents, causing sudden and violent torrents in otherwise dry spots. Heavy rainfall has fallen sporadically over the past two days. The downpour also caused parts of Israel’s security barrier with the West Bank to collapse, Rosenfeld said.

Computer Weekly reports that British banks are working with former Israeli military cyber security specialists to secure the banking infrastructure against cyber attacks, as London seeks to boost its position as a global financial centre in the run up to Brexit. Israeli cyber security companies are providing security expertise to at least three of the top four UK banks, according to the report by BICOM, which conducts research into Israel and the Middle East.

The Independent reports that a Palestinian journalist who was shot by Israeli forces while covering a protest along the Gaza-Israel border nearly two weeks ago has died of his wounds, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Ahmad Abu Hussein, who was shot in the abdomen on 13 April, is the second journalist to be fatally shot during weeks of demonstrations at the border, which have called for a right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants to homes in what is now Israel. The 24-year-old was wearing a protective vest marked “Press” and a helmet marked “TV” when he was shot, amateur video from the scene shows. He worked for Gaza’s “Voice of People” radio station linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

The Financial Times reports that efforts to secure the release of a British-Iranian woman imprisoned in Iran have “hit a wall”, according to her husband. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has now been in jail for two years on charges of spying. It is nearly six months since UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson visited Iran to argue her case, raising hopes that she might be released by Christmas. The impasse raises questions about the UK’s relations with Iran and about the tactics used by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to protect British nationals abroad. The announcement this week that another British-Iranian national had been arrested in Iran also has highlighted the issue. Around half a dozen prominent dual nationals are currently in jail in Iran. Their arrest is seen as part of a pattern by hardliners to weaken pro-reform groups.

The Telegraph reports that the UN has warned that the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria has been “transformed into a death camp,” as Assad regime forces press ahead with a major offensive against ISIS fighters who control the area. The Yarmouk camp in southern Damascus has seen a week of intensive fighting as Syrian forces and allied militias attempt to crush one of the last rebel-held pockets of territory in the Syrian capital. More than 5,000 civilians have fled the area in the face of intense shelling and aerial bombardment. Many of the civilians, both Palestinian refugees and Syrian locals, are now sleeping in the streets after being displaced from their homes. “Yarmouk was a refugee camp that had already been transformed into a death camp, and even in that state it has just experienced a week of really intense fighting,” said Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the agency for Palestinian refugees. “Things have become unimaginably brutal for the civilians there,” he said

The Daily Express and the Daily Mail via AFP report that Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman vowed in an interview Thursday to strike at any attempt by Iran to establish a “military foothold” in Syria, following an attack this month attributed to his country. Speaking with a news website run by a Saudi businessman, Lieberman also threatened firm retaliation if Israel was attacked by Iran. “If they attack Tel Aviv, we’ll strike Tehran,” he told the Elaph website. The comments came as Lieberman visited Washington to meet new US National Security Adviser John Bolton and other officials to discuss what his office called Iran’s “expansion” in the Middle East. “We don’t intervene in the war, don’t fight there, but Iran is trying to establish bases there and attack us from there with advanced arms it brings to them,” Lieberman said of neighbouring Syria. “I can’t stand by when I see Iran do that close to the Golan, and when it supports Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon, and tries to establish a foothold in Syria in order to attack Israel.”

BBC News Online reports that French President Emmanuel Macron has said he may have failed in efforts to persuade US President Donald Trump to stick to an international nuclear deal with Iran. “My view is… that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons,” Macron said at the end of a three-day state visit to the US. Trump has until 12 May to decide on the deal, which aimed to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

The Daily Mail reports that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has recruited a strategy adviser who once called for Israel to be condemned in the same way as the Islamic State terror group. Mark Dearn has joined the Labour leader’s office from a controversial group that campaigns for a boycott of Israeli goods. For the past three years, Dearn has been a senior campaigns officer at anti-Israel group War on Want, which has been criticised for holding events where speakers have defended violence in the country. Its actions have included organising a sit-in at Waitrose supermarkets over its stocking of Israeli products.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN is accusing Israel’s military forces of targeting civilians in Gaza and has described their deliberate killing and wounding as “terrorism.” Riyad Mansour told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday that “the international community must demand answers from Israel.” The UN Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, said 35 Palestinians have been killed and “large numbers” wounded by Israeli military forces since protests along the Gaza-Israel border began on 30 March.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said Thursday that she favoured moving her country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem but she had insufficient backing at home for such a move. “We are conducting consultations on this topic with all institutions in Romania,” she said during a meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem. “This is our wish, but unfortunately we do not have support from all parties as we would like,” she said.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that a Palestinian art museum has opened doors in the US. Called Palestine Museum US, it will open to the public this Sunday and for now will open only Sundays, free of charge and be staffed by volunteers. It houses more than 70 works of art, 100 photographs, collections of embroidery, costumes and several modern installations. The focus of the museum is art, not war, and the museum offers little on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that thousands of Palestinians joined a mass funeral on Thursday for a Hamas scientist who was gunned down in Malaysia last week, as Hamas’ leader accused Israel of killing him and vowed revenge.

All the Israeli media is dominated by coverage of the tragic death yesterday of nine girls and one boy in a flash flood in the Arava desert in the south of Israel.  The teenagers were on a hike and were swept away by a sudden wave.  Yediot Ahronot reports that the victims came from a prestigious pre-military academy in Tel Aviv. On Wednesday, they started a trip intended for social bonding that was scheduled to last for three days. One of the victims sent WhatsApp messages earlier in the day, “I can’t believe we are actually going hiking in this weather”, “It doesn’t make sense to go to the place of all the flash floods,” “It’s tempting fate”, “we are going to die, I’m serious”.   The police have launched an investigation into the circumstances of the disaster. Today’s papers pose tough questions regarding the decision to continue with the hike, despite weather warnings.  Kan Radio News reported that the body of the tenth victim of the flash flood in Nahal Tzafit was located last night. Nir Wagner, Deputy Commander of the Ein Gedi first responders unit, called on hikers in low-elevation areas like the Dead Sea and the Arava to heed warnings and refrain from walking in the streams during flash floods.

Haaretz reports the funeral procession and burial of Fadi al- Batsh the Hamas operative who was killed in Malaysia last week.  It was attended by his family and representatives of all the Palestinian factions.  Al-Batsh was an electrical engineer understood to have been developing Hamas’s UAV capacity.  The paper also notes the New York Times story that he was involved in negotiating an arms deal with North Korea intended for Gaza.

Maariv reports Lieberman’s interview with a Saudi newspaper that if Iran attacked Tel Aviv, Israel would attack Tehran and “destroy all of the ayatollah regime’s military sites in Syria that threaten us.” Lieberman also commented on the killing of the Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh in Malaysia, saying that “He was not a scientist who was working to bring electricity to the Gaza Strip… He developed UAVs and worked on Hamas’s precision-guided missiles.” Lieberman denied Israeli responsibility for the engineer’s assassination.

Haaretz reports that the new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel next week and is expected to meet Netanyahu.  The Senate confirmed Pompeo’s appointment on Thursday. He is expected to attend a NATO summit in Brussels later today.

Maariv notes the continued infighting within the Likud over the Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony.   Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev continued to attack Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein: “He expressed hatred for Prime Minister Netanyahu and pulled dirty tricks to ruin the ceremony. He tried to sabotage the ceremony and failed. He was not ashamed to say that he threatened me politically. Based on the conditions he stated to the prime minister, he’s far from statesmanlike and far from the glory of Jabotinsky that he talks about.”