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Israel has resumed its attacks on Gaza after the end of a truce with Hamas on Friday
The Guardian thinks that Israel has signalled a “significant escalation” in the war with Hamas, after the resumption of fighting yesterday. The paper says the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appears to have rejected a US call for restraint – and that Israel is preparing to launch a ground attack in southern Gaza, where it believes the Hamas leadership is based. The Guardian points to Israeli leaflets being dropped in parts of the city of Khan Younis, warning citizens to evacuate further south to Rafah, on the Egyptian border.
According to the Financial Times, Israel is planning a campaign against Hamas that will “stretch for a year or more”. The paper says several people familiar with the preparations have told it that a military push from northern Gaza to the south is “imminent”. The goals, it says, include killing the three top Hamas leaders and destroying the group’s “governing capability in Gaza”.
The Daily Mail highlights a report that children as young as seven are skipping school to join pro-Palestinian marches. It quotes the Policy Exchange think tank as saying that “hard line groups” are advising parents on how to avoid fines from schools. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan tells the paper that while she would “always encourage young people to engage in world events,” doing so by joining protests during school time is unacceptable”.
The Times leads on Boris Johnson’s upcoming evidence to the Covid public inquiry, two and a half years after he announced there would be hearings into the UK’s response to the pandemic. The paper says the former prime minister’s appearance next Wednesday will be a “pivotal moment”. It says Mr Johnson will admit that he “unquestionably made mistakes” but insist that decisions he took ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
The Daily Express urges readers not to “believe the doubters”, declaring that the “Rwanda migrant deal is on”. The government’s plans to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda were ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court last month, but the paper quotes senior officials as saying a new treaty will “make it work”.
The Daily Telegraph says it understands that Rishi Sunak is “leaning towards” what it calls a hard-line Rwanda law, to secure deportation flights before the next general election. However, a No 10 source is quoted as saying: “Nothing is decided, everything is still on the table.”
The fallout continues from what some have called the royal race row. The Telegraph reports that Prince Harry is facing pressure to speak out in defence of his father and the Princess of Wales, as leading public figures rally behind them. The two were identified in the Dutch version of a book as the royals who allegedly made remarks about the skin colour of Prince Archie before he was born. Buckingham Palace has said “all options” are open for its response. Sources close to the Sussexes have previously insisted the couple have not said that either the comments – or those who made them – were “racist”.
The Sun also leads on the story. The paper reports that relations between the King and Prince Harry are said to be “fractured beyond repair”. “Endgame” – the title of the book – is also the paper’s headline.
