The Independent reports that the body of an Israeli teen that was snatched by Palestinian militants from a West Bank hospital was returned to his family on Thursday, the Israeli military said. The teenager was from Israel’s Druze Arab minority. Its members serve in the Israeli security forces and have links to Palestinians. The incident threatened to ratchet up already boiling tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. The family of 17-year-old Tiran Fero said Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin entered the hospital where he was being treated after a car crash. They disconnected him from hospital equipment while he was still alive and took him away, according to his father, Husam Fero.

The BBC reports on Wednesday’s story, that a teenager has been killed and numerous other people have been wounded in two suspected bomb attacks at bus stops in Jerusalem, Israeli police say. The explosions happened at two busy areas on the outskirts of the city as people were heading to work. The teenager who died was an Israeli-Canadian Jewish seminary student named Aryeh Schupak. Israel’s prime minister said it was an attack that was “different from what we have seen in recent years”.

Reuters reports on our main story, that Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party signed its first coalition deal with Itamar Ben-Gvir’s far-right Jewish Power party, Likud said in a statement on Friday. The agreement, which does not account for a full and final new government in Israel, gives Ben-Gvir the police ministry and a seat in the security cabinet.

The Guardian reports Joe Biden has appointed a new special representative for Palestinian affairs, a significant upgrade in relations with Ramallah despite the fact the American diplomatic mission in Jerusalem, closed by Donald Trump in 2019, is yet to reopen. The White House informed Congress on Tuesday that it had promoted Hady Amr, previously the deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, to the newly created, Washington-based role, Axios and the Times of Israel reported.

Reuters also reports that Israel’s NewMed Energy said on Thursday it was leaning towards building a floating liquefied national gas (FLNG) terminal to further develop its Leviathan gas field off Israel’s Mediterranean coast. The company has been weighing two options – an FLNG terminal which has seen support from Israel’s government for connecting via pipeline to LNG terminals in north Egypt to facilitate exports further afield at a time when Europe is looking for non-Russian energy supplies.

On Iran, The Guardian reports security forces on Thursday arrested one of the country’s most famous footballers, accusing him of spreading propaganda against the Islamic republic and seeking to undermine the national World Cup team. Voria Ghafouri, a former member of the national football team and once a captain of the Tehran club Esteghlal, has been outspoken in his defence of Iranian Kurds, telling the government on social media to stop killing Kurdish people. He has previously been detained for criticising the former Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif.

The BBC reports the UN Human Rights Council has voted to set up a fact-finding mission to investigate the deadly crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran. Western diplomats said an independent probe would hold those responsible for abuses to account and send a powerful message of support to women in Iran. Iran described calls for the mission as an arrogant political ploy. Opening the session in Geneva, UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned that Iran was in a “full-fledged” crisis.

Israel Hayom reports that in the wake of Wednesday’s deadly terror attacks in Jerusalem, police across Israel will be instructed to be on high alert this weekend. While particular focus is on Jerusalem, there is also concern that increased violence could spill over into Israel’s other mixed cities, where motorcycle and moped patrols will be in operation to provide a fast response to any incidents. The General Security Service and Israel Police, meanwhile, continue the manhunt for those responsible for Wednesday’s bombings, which injured 18 people and claimed the life of 16-year-old Israeli-Canadian Aryeh Schupak.

Maariv reports on the funeral of Israeli Druze Tiran Fero, while Ynet reports Defence Minister Benny Gantz’s acknowledgement of the cooperation of the Palestinian Authority in securing the recovery of Fero’s body after its seizure by gunmen following his death in a car accident in the West Bank city of Jenin. Ramallah’s assistance was, he said, “a basic humanitarian step after a vile and inhuman act”.

Several outlets also report that an 18-year-old student at the Air Force Technical High School has sustained light injuries after being hit by a car in Beersheba, in an incident being investigated as a possible terror attack. Haaretz reports that the driver, a man from Rahat, has been charged with terror offences, while Ynet focusses on the suspect’s recent social media posts which include threats to respond to what he alleges is racism targeted at the Bedouin community.

There is wide reporting of Iranian hacker group “Staff of Moses” gaining control of security cameras close to the sites of Wednesday’s bombings. Footage released of the attacks was accompanied by a caption reading “for a long time we had control over all of your activities – step by step, moment by moment.” Ynet reports that the group claimed to release personal details of members of an IDF combat brigade last year,  while Israel Hayom cites security analyst Raphael Jerusalmy as saying that, while the government in Tehran provides some funding to Staff of Moses, it is not part of the network of 500 hackers employed directly to conduct operations against Israel.

Ynet reports that Defence Minister Benny Gantz has authorised the rescinding of 200 of the 15,500 Israeli work permits currently allocated to residents of Gaza, after a Gazan labourer was arrested on October 30^th and accused of planning to plant a bomb on an Israeli bus. Gantz tweeted: “The attempt by terror groups to exploit the jobs of workers in Israel in order to carry out attacks endangers the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of residents of the Gaza Strip”.

Kan Radio reports that overseas Israel security officials are to receive enhanced security in the face of an increase in Iranian activity.

Israel Hayom reports President Isaac Herzog speaking on Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy extended his condolences for Wednesday’s terror attacks and stressed the “deep connection between Israel and Ukraine, which he said exists not only between leaders but also between people, including many Jewish immigrants to Israel from Ukraine. He welcomed the conclusion of elections in Israel and expressed hope for cooperation with the next government.” Herzog, meanwhile, committed to ongoing dialogue with Kyiv regarding the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, especially with regard to the coming winter’s impact on a country struggling with energy supply in the wake of Russian attacks on supply centres.

In a commentary for Channel 12 News, Mohammed Magadli discusses the polarised attitudes of Arab-Israeli parties. The divide, he says, is one of engagement vs boycott of the Israeli political system. Focussing on the example of responses to the presumptive appointment of Ben Gvir as National Security Miniter, Magadli writes:  “Hadash-Ta’al, the Higher Arab Israeli Supreme Monitoring Committee and the Committee of Arab Mayors and many other groups in the Arab sector have made clear even before Ben Gvir assumes his duties that they have no intention of maintaining either direct or indirect ties with him. They say they will look for other ways to deal with the issues that are related to the Arab community. From their perspective, a person who calls, or who has called in the past to deport Arabs cannot genuinely be interested in ensuring their lives are safe.”

“On the other hand, the UAL [United Arab List]—which as of this writing has not made any public statement about its policies regarding the probable next government—will operate in a different way and will try to enlist several local council heads in the sector to call for talks with Ben Gvir. Talks, and perhaps full cooperation. This is significant: It represents an attitude that is shared by a significant portion of Arab society that would normally be expected to lead the boycott. There is no question that this will serve Ben Gvir’s needs and help him to neutralize allegations made against him. From his perspective, it would be another victory. After he led the right to victory over the center-left, he will also deliver a victory over the Arabs—who can no longer remain either complacent about him or ignore him.”