RAMALLAH, Thursday, April 02, 2020 (WAFA) – The report that 15 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the West Bank, the highest in a single day, occupied the main front page story in the three Palestinian Arabic dailies today.

The 15 cases, said the papers, were Palestinian workers at an Israeli factory who returned home with the virus and possibly have spread it in their homes and villages.

The papers said this prompted Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh to say that the real weakness in the Palestinian battle against coronavirus is the Israeli occupation, settlements and its policies.

The dailies also said that a young Palestinian critically injured by Israeli soldiers three weeks ago while defending land in the town of Beita in the north of the West Bank against takeover by Jewish settlers has succumbed to his wounds and he was buried yesterday.

Al-Ayyam quoted the Ministry of Education saying that the general matriculation exam, known as tawjihi, will be taken on time in May.

It also said Palestinians in Jaffa inside Israel clashed with Israeli police yesterday after police assaulted a local resident.

The paper said Al-Quds University was able to build a respirator that could be manufactured locally.

Al-Quds quoted the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories saying that $34 million are needed for the Palestinian Authority to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

It said the East Jerusalem Hospital Network has laid out plans to fight coronavirus in the occupied city.

It said Israel demolished homes in Rummaneh in the northern West and seized a caravan in the Jordan Valley.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said President Mahmoud Abbas has mourned the death of Central Gaza governor Abdullah Abu Samhadaneh.

It said factories in Gaza are producing face masks and preventative uniforms for use in the fight against coronavirus outbreak.

M.K.