The Financial Times, Times and the Guardian all cover yesterday’s State Comptroller report which sharply criticised Israel’s political and military leaders before and during Operation Protective Edge in Summer 2014. The Financial Times calls the report “scathing,” while the Times says that it “lambasted” Netanyahu. All the newspapers suggest that Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, who consistently pushed for answers over the tunnels, could be the main political beneficiary of the report.

The i covers an announcement by the Palestinian Authority (PA) that Palestinian municipal elections, scheduled for May, will take place only in the PA-run West Bank and not in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The ballot had previously been planned for both territories, in what was viewed as a template for the first national Palestinian parliamentary elections for more than ten years.

In a separate report, the i says that violent clashes took place in a Palestinian refugee camp in South Lebanon, killing one person and wounding several others, including a 3-year-old boy.

The Independent and the online editions of the Guardian, Telegraph and Times all report that Russia and China vetoed a United Nations’ (UN) Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Syria after alleged chemical weapons use during the country’s civil war. All reports note that the veto was heavily criticised by the United States, marking the first real disagreement between Washington and Moscow since US President Donald Trump assumed office.

The Financial Times online reports that the International Monetary Fund has said that tension between Iran and the Trump Administration could deter trade with Tehran, slowing Iran’s economic progress.

In the Israeli media, the dailies are dominated by yesterday’s State Comptroller. The report features prominently in Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom, Haaretz and Maariv whose headline declares a “tunnels failure”. Israel Radio news says that opposition MKs are demanding that Netanyahu appear before the Knesset to discuss the report.

In commentary on the report, Yediot Ahronot’s Sima Kadmon says that the “thing that cannot be said about the state comptroller’s report… is that the mountain was actually a molehill. In this case, the mountain proved to be a mountain. And quite a mountain at that”. She says that the failures were no less grave than those exposed by the Winograd Report following the Second Lebanon War in 2006, but that “from one war to the next, from one operation to the next… we have become increasingly apathetic”.

Also in Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea says that the impression of Netanyahu conveyed by the report is that he “does not function as a leader: he doesn’t set policy because he has no policy; he doesn’t force his views on the others because he doesn’t have any views”. Barnea says that there is an “astonishing” disparity between Netanyahu’s image and reality.

In Maariv, Ben Caspit says that the report exposed “the inconceivable ease with which a state sends its sons to be killed for nothing”. He also laments “what the comptroller’s report will change: nothing”.

In other news, Haaretz prominently reports on yesterday’s evacuation of nine structures in the West Bank settlement of Ofra, following a court ruling. The buildings had been constructed on private Palestinian land. Israel Radio says that the structures will be demolished today.