BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme reports that, with an election just days away, Israel is facing a potential fresh round of conflict between Hamas and Israel, with Israeli authorities concerned about significant violence along the Gaza border to mark the year anniversary of the Great March of Return.

The Guardian reports that Gaza is braced for the anniversary of demonstrations at the border with Israel, after a year in which Israeli soldiers have shot thousands of people. The United Nations, which has accused Israeli sharpshooters of intentionally firing on civilians, released new casualty figures showing the devastating impact so far: 194 Palestinians, including 41 children, have been killed at the weekly demonstrations. Close to 29,000 have been wounded, a quarter of them shot. In the same period, one Israeli soldier has been killed. The anniversary comes at a time of heightened tensions. Hamas, which rules Gaza and supports the movement, recently fired rockets deep into its neighbour’s territory. Israel and the militant group have fought multiple battles in the past year, often following particularly deadly protest days at the fence. The Great March of Return demonstration was launched with aims to lift a blockade that has trapped the enclave’s 2 million residents and to push for recognition of the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

The BBC reports that Saudi Arabia has temporarily released three Saudi women’s rights activists. Amnesty International and UK-based Saudi rights organisation, ALQST, named the women as Eman al-Nafjan, Aziza al-Yousef and Roqaya al-Mohareb. Saudi state media said the releases were only provisional. The three women are among 11 women on trial after being charged under the country’s cyber-crimes law, which can carry a sentence of up to five years in jail. The detentions began last May, shortly before a ban on women driving was lifted. At the time, the public prosecutor’s office said they were suspected of harming national interests and “offering support to hostile elements abroad”. Some of the activists were later released.

Raf Sanchez writes in The Telegraph that: “Netanyahu’s ‘deal with the devil’ brings Jewish extremists into Israel’s political mainstream”.  Sanchez says Netanyahu has shown many times the lengths he will go to hold onto power. He continues: “now, ahead of the April 9 election, Mr Netanyahu has taken his most drastic step yet: an electoral deal with a group of Jewish extremists who have long been shunned by mainstream Israeli politicians for their history of violence and racism.”

Reuters reports that a UN human rights expert is urging Saudi Arabia to open up the trial of 11 suspects in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to the public and trial observers. Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions who is leading an international inquiry into Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October, denounced what she called the lack of transparency of the kingdom’s investigation and legal proceedings.

The Times reports that Israel has launched its biggest airstrikes yet around the Syrian city of Aleppo, hitting what appear to be Iranian military sites and ammunition dumps. The air attack is the most concerted by Israeli aircraft since President Assad’s forces recaptured Aleppo from rebels in December 2016. It signals Israel’s concern over Iran’s spreading influence in Syria.

Reuters reports that Turkey is quietly working to integrate Syrian refugees. Despite political rhetoric to the contrary, and with the support of international donors, Turkey is quietly paving the way to integrate many of its nearly 4 million Syrians – by far the biggest group of refugees who have spilled over Syria’s borders during the eight-year-old civil war.

The FT reports on the state of Turkey’s economy. The paper reports that volatile currency markets are adding to a sense of economic gloom ahead of Sunday’s elections. “The man feeling the most pressure is the president himself. Mr Erdogan’s credibility is bound up with Turkey’s currency and that explains why he has pulled out all the stops this week in an unconventional effort to keep the lira steady ahead of polls on Sunday.”

Reuters reports that Germany is extending the ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia for another six months. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said: “The ban will be extended for a further six months to September 30. Over this period no new export applications will be approved.”

Reuters reports that oil is set for its biggest quarterly price rise since 2009 amid OPEC cuts and US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela.

The Economist includes a special report on Benjamin Netanyahu: “King Bibi – the parable of a modern populist”. In the leader, the magazine writes: “Binyamin Netanyahu is Israel’s most gifted politician in a generation. He is his country’s second-longest-serving prime minister and, if he wins his fifth election on April 9th, may beat the record of the country’s founding father, David Ben Gurion.” But the editorial concludes: “On April 9th Israeli voters face a fateful choice. Re-elect Mr Netanyahu and reward him for subverting the independence of Israel’s institutions. Or turf him out in the hope of rebuilding trust in democracy—and aspiring to be ‘a light unto the nations’”.

The New Statesman has an interview with the lawyer for Shamima Begum, Tasnime Akunjee, about his quest to bring the ISIS bride back to the UK. Akunjee told Jason Cowley that “what Javid has done is morally appalling and flawed legally”.

Yossi Yehoshua in Yediot Ahronoth writes that “the Egyptians are brokering talks between the sides up to the last moment in an attempt to at least reach understandings on the height of flames of the events near the fence. It is feared that if such understandings are not reached at the last moment, the demonstrations could be particularly violent. Israeli officials believe that there will not be a broad arrangement in the near future. Therefore, at the first stage, there is an attempt to bring about a truce over the weekend, and only afterwards—if we are not dragged into an escalation—the sides will advance to an ‘election truce arrangement,’ to calm the situation on the ground at least until April 9, and hopefully longer.”

In Haaretz, Amos Harel argues that the: “Scope of demonstrations in Gaza this weekend will determine the height of flames vis-à-vis Hamas. The numbers, they say in the army, are what will decide things. If Hamas decides to bring 50,000 demonstrators to the Gaza Strip border fence on Saturday – which is both Land Day and the first anniversary of the Marches of Return – the organisation will have difficulty controlling the height of the flames. In such circumstances, there’s a good chance that at some point, some people in the mob will run towards the border and try to break through the fence.”

Haaretz reports comments by President Rivlin at the Haaretz Democracy Conference yesterday. The President said that Israel is: “A democratic and Jewish state – not democratic only for Jews”. Many politicians past and present as well as party leaders spoke at the conference. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak heavily criticised Netanyahu saying: “The idea that Netanyahu is Mr. Security is fake” and “absurd.” Barak also said that despite conventional wisdom, there are huge differences between the two big blocs, right and left. The centre-left bloc is led by people committed to the “original Zionist vision” of a Jewish and democratic state, the other side is comprised of an “unholy alliance of those who want to destroy democracy” and includes “racists, fascists and messianists who want to turn this democracy into an apartheid state.”

Kan Radio reports that the Shin Bet warned senior officials that a legal loophole could enable foreign espionage agencies to spy in Israel. This is because of an amendment to the law that allows Jews who moved to Israel in keeping with the Law of Return to receive a passport even if they do not settle in Israel. This amendment was approved a year and a half ago and the Shin Bet fears that it will make it possible for foreign espionage agencies to obtain Israeli passports with relative ease. The Shin Bet did not mention any specific country, but it is believed that it is mainly concerned about Russia.

Yediot Ahronoth, Maariv and Israel Hayom report the latest election polls. In all of them the Blue and White Party is leading, but the right wing bloc is larger than the centre-left bloc, giving Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a higher chance of forming the next government. In the Yediot Ahronoth poll, the Blue and White Party is predicted to win 31 seats,  27 for Likud, 9 for Labour, 7 for UTJ and Hadash-Arab Movement for Renewal, and 6 for the New Right. In Maariv, the Blue and White Party is predicted to win 30 seats, Likud 29, Labour 8, Hadash-Taal and the New Right 7, UTJ, the United Right and Shas 6. Maariv’s poll says 17 per cent of voters are still undecided The Israel Hayom poll predicts that the Blue and White party will win 32 seats, Likud 28, Labour 8. Hadash-Taal, Meretz, United Right, New Right, Shas, UTJ and  Zehut 6.

In the Yediot Ahronoth poll, 41 per cent of people believe Benjamin Netanyahu is more suitable to be Prime Minister and 30 per cent support Benny Gantz. When asked who they would prefer to see as Prime Minister the gap was smaller with Netanyahu supported by 37 per cent and 32 per cent for Gantz. When asked who can better deal with Gaza, Netanyahu is supported by 35 per cent and 30 per cent for Gantz. Only 28 per cent said they were satisfied with Netanyahu’s handling of Hamas in Gaza, 63 per cent were unsatisfied.

Commenting on the Yediot Ahronoth poll, Yuval Karni argues that both large parties have lost ground, with Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party picking up voters from both sides.