The Daily Express and Independent report on the possibility of the first official visit by a Royal Family member to Israel after President Reuven Rivlin extended an invitation during a meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in Jerusalem on Wednesday. The Daily Express suggests that Princess Anne or Prince Edward could take part in such a visit.

The Times covers comments made by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Deputy Foreign Minister, who expressed sharp opposition towards a UK royal visit to Israel, especially one which would mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. The Balfour Declaration enshrined the UK’s support for a Jewish national home in the British mandate of Palestine, today known as Israel and the disputed territories.

The Times also covers a Jerusalem Post interview with Foreign Secretary Johnson during his visit to Israel this week, in which he said: “You have a two-state solution or else you have a kind of apartheid system.” The article says that use of the word apartheid is “highly controversial”.

The Evening Standard includes an interview with UK-born Israel Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld, who discusses the “remarkable turnaround” in security in Jerusalem over the past year. The article says that despite a series of terror attacks in Jerusalem by lone Palestinian terrorists over the last year, more than one million visitors to the city are expected between now and Easter.

The Independent reports that US President Donald Trump’s candidate for the next US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has received approval from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and must now be approved by the US Senate.

The Guardian online says that the US has stepped up its deployment in Syria to 900 soldiers and Marines. The Times reports that US-backed forces and Syrian government troops are both converging on the ISIS stronghold of al-Raqqa. The Telegraph online reports that the US faces a “train wreck” over the battle for al-Raqqa, with rival Turkish-backed and Kurdish forces asking that the other be excluded from a final assault on the city. The Financial Times online quotes Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, who said that if Kurdish forces participate, relations with Washington will be “damaged”.

In the Israeli media, Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom lead with yesterday’s meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Netanyahu warned Putin over Iran’s growing influence in Syria and Tehran’s ambitions to develop a permanent foothold in the country. Israel Hayom emphasises that Netanyahu mentioned Iran’s ambition to establish a naval base in Syria.

Yediot Ahronot says that the Communications Ministry has outlined details of a law which would grant the government and the Prime Minister significant control over a broad range of media outlets in Israel. Jewish Home ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked have reportedly said that they will not support the bill unless Prime Minister Netanyahu agrees to build a new settlement for those evacuated from the West Bank outpost of Amona. Anonymous Likud sources are quoted in the article calling Bennett and Shaked’s stance “embarrassing”. Zionist Union MK Micky Rosenthal is quoted accusing Netanyahu of “obsession” and wanting “Erdogan-like control”.

Haaretz reports that in a future conflict with Hezbollah, the distinction between Hezbollah and Lebanese armed forces will be eradicated, “altering the face” of such a conflict. Lebanon’s new President Michel Aoun has indicated a growing coordination between the Lebanese army and Hezbollah.