Reuters reports that Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man and wounded 25 including two medics on Monday during protests along the Gaza Strip’s beachfront border with Israel. Witnesses said dozens of protesters in the north of the blockaded enclave burnt tyres and threw stones at Israeli soldiers stationed behind Israel’s frontier fence and that troops fired live bullets and tear gas. The Gaza Health Ministry said a 27-year-old Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military, estimating the crowd at around 3,000 people, said explosive devices were also thrown at troops. The soldiers responded with “riot dispersal means and live fire”. The Telegraph reports that Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza after Hamas, has vowed revenge against Israel after three Palestinian teenagers were killed in an airstrike on the Gaza border. The Daily Mail reports that the Palestine Liberation Organization’s mini-parliament has called for ending security coordination with Israeli forces in the West Bank, but says implementation is up to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Late on Monday, at the end of a two-day gathering, the Palestinian Central Council also called for suspending recognition of Israel. Abbas, who controls the council, has not implemented such decisions in the past.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Israeli minister Miri Regev shared a video on Facebook of her touring a famed mosque in the United Arab Emirates, in an unprecedented visit by a cabinet member. The culture and sport minister was dressed in a red abaya with a white scarf covering her hair at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. “I toured the site,” Regev told the camera, in Hebrew, surrounded by a group of people in traditional Emirati dress. “This is the first time that an Israeli minister is here on a visit.” Regev, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, visited the mosque on Sunday, according to her spokesman.

Reuters reports comments by a senior Israeli official who said Israel has carried out attacks in Syria since the accidental shooting down of a Russian surveillance plane last month. Since the Russian plane was shot down there have been no reports of Israeli air strikes in Syria which raised speculation in the Israeli media that Israel was either holding back at Russia’s request or had paused the attacks over concern that they would fuel further tensions with Moscow. Netanyahu said earlier this month that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin “soon” to discuss security cooperation. Russia said it had upgraded Syria’s air defences with the S-300 missile system after accusing Israel of indirect responsibility for the incident.

The Daily Mail reports that Chief Rabbi David Lau told a local newspaper that the shooting attack in Pittsburgh was “unforgivable” but also referred to the Conservative synagogue merely as “a place with a profound Jewish flavour.” In a tweet, Netanyahu seemed to rebuff him. “Jews were killed in a synagogue. They were killed because they are Jews. The location was chosen because it is a synagogue. We must never forget that. We are one,” he wrote.

The Daily Mail reports that the Syrian opposition presented a “road map” to peace, including steps to be taken ahead of an election and guidelines for a plan to write the country’s post-war constitution. The document, drawn up by representatives of the opposition invited to Rome by the Catholic Sant’Egidio community, will be presented to key players in the conflict  – from Russia to Turkey and the EU  – over the next few weeks.

The Independent reports that the European Tour have confirmed that they will bring a golfing event to Saudi Arabia for the first time in 2019, despite intense scrutiny over the country hosting sporting events in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. The schedule for the 2019 season was released today confirming the event is set to take place from January 31 – February 3 at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in the King Abdullah Economic City to the North of Jeddah.

The Express reports that France and Germany have promised to find a common position on potential limits to Saudi weapons sales after French President Emmanuel Macron clashed with his European allies over their decision to stop selling arms to Riyadh, following the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. “We agreed that when we have more clarity … we will try to find a unified European solution or reaction from all member states of the European Union,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a joint news conference. Mr Macron, for his part, said any decisions that would be taken, including potential sanctions, had to be made at European level to ensure coordination. In a rare outburst against his EU allies, Mr Macron on Friday dismissed as “demagoguery” the calls by several European countries including Germany to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the murder of Mr Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Reuters reports that the Syrian government has accused Turkey of failing to meet obligations set out in an agreement with Russia to create a demilitarised zone free of jihadists in the northwest, at odds with the Russian view that Ankara is fulfilling the deal. The agreement forged in September between Russia, President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally, and Turkey, which backs the rebels, staved off a major government offensive into the opposition-held Idlib region. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Ankara was fulfilling its obligations in Idlib.

All the Israeli media report on the local municipal elections. Yediot Ahronot calls on its readers to “go and vote” while Israel Hayom similarly declares “the choice is yours”.  Haaretz profiles the close races in the largest cities.  Similarly, Yediot Ahronot assesses that in Tel Aviv the competition is very close between Ron Huldai the incumbent for the last twenty years and Asaf Zamir his deputy for the last ten years.  In Jerusalem, four potential mayors will likely mean none of them reach the 40% threshold in which case a runoff between the top two will be held in two weeks’ time.

Yediot Ahronot and Maariv extensively quote a senior political official briefing on Gaza yesterday, saying: “If Israel is confident that the money is heading in the right direction, Israel will also consider transferring the [funds used to pay] salaries, but that isn’t happening at the moment.” The senior political official went on to say: “Netanyahu wants to avoid war, but he isn’t sure that he can. In order to go to war, that needs to have justification and a purpose, at the end of which there will be a visible achievement. There aren’t any volunteers to take Gaza, and the Arab countries haven’t got any problem with Israel conquering Gaza. They would be very glad if we were to do that, but after we conquer it, there’s no one to turn it over to. None of them want [to take responsibility for Gaza]. If there were an Arab country that was willing to extend its patronage over Gaza, we might have already conquered it, and then we could reduce the number of victims. Since the option of conquering and turning it over is non-existent, there’s the other option,” said the senior political official. “I’m talking about painful blows. A Hamas building and its security headquarters were completely destroyed. Those are very painful blows. Will that last? I’m not sure. Do we already have plans for next Saturday and the one after it? Yes.” In response to a question as to whether Israel was closer to an escalation [in violence] or to an arrangement, the senior political official said: “There isn’t [i.e. can’t be] any arrangement with an organisation that wants to destroy us. After seven months, we are very close to a decision – either calm or an escalation. It could very well be that it [IDF’s policy] will transition to escalation, to very painful blows.” The senior political official said that a major conflagration would result in extensive IDF casualties, and that was something that had to be taken into account before opting for that course of action.  “There isn’t [going to be] restraint, but there isn’t [going to be] conquering [Gaza either]. There will be painful blows, and I know how they see it,” said the senior political official. He said that a truce arrangement had been close to being finalized, but it was dashed by Hamas last Friday. In summary, the senior political official said: “It could be that we’ll have to deliver a painful blow, and a large part of the State of Israel will be under the threat of missile attacks.”

Israel Hayom reports on Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s comments from the meeting of his Yisrael Beiteinu faction.  He attacked fellow members of the security cabinet he accused of being “held captive by a mistaken preconception … Anyone who is banking on an arrangement with Hamas is wrong, big time.”  The paper also reports that residents of the Gaza periphery communities blocked Route 232 to the Kerem Shalom crossing to protest the decision to allow goods to continue to enter the Gaza Strip while Hamas has continued to terrorise the residents. An average of 450 trucks enter the Gaza Strip on a daily basis, transporting fuel and goods. Eti Levy, one of the demonstrators, said that the protestors counted in the course of the demonstration, “more than 100 trucks—about 30 metal trucks, more than 30 cement trucks, more than 20 semitrailers with sand and gravel. Is that humanitarian aid?! In practice what they’re doing is supplying hundreds of tons of equipment for Hamas’s tunnels.”

Channel 2 news aired a recording of Likud MK Miki Zohar describing Prime Minister Netanyahu as “acting like an a-hole,” for endorsing several candidates who are running against the Likud’s formal candidate in the local elections.  Maariv reports that for example, in Bat Yam Prime Minister Netanyahu has thrown his support behind the incumbent mayor, Yossi Bachar, and not the official Likud candidate, Zvika Brott, because Brott works with Shlomo Filber, who is a state’s witness in the corruption Case 4,000.   It is also noted that Netanyahu’s political rival in Likud, Gidon Saar is prominently supporting Brott.

Yediot Ahronot reports Culture Minister Miri Regev’s visit to Abu Dhabi.  Yesterday she visited the Sheikh Zayed Mosque accompanied by Mohammad bin Taleb Adraee, who is in charge of sports in the UAE.  “It was very important to them that I would come to the mosque, and I respected the sanctity of the place,” said Regev, who wore traditional clothes and removed her shoes when visiting the mosque.  “I signed the mosque’s guest book in Hebrew. I wanted to show the brotherhood that could be between Jews and Muslims and offer a hand in peace.” Yesterday Israel won a second gold medal at the world Judo championship.  Israel Hayom quotes champion Sagi Muki, “we sang hatikva in memory of those killed in Pittsburgh and the residents of the Gaza periphery.”