RAMALLAH, Tuesday, February 23, 2021 (WAFA) – The demolitions of Palestinian homes and structures that continue unabated in the West Bank dominated the front page headlines in the three mainstream Palestinian dailies.

Al-Ayyam said that the Israeli occupation authorities carried out a large-scale demolition campaign in several West Bank districts.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the Israeli occupation authorities carried out wide-scale demolition operations in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the Jordan Valley.

Al-Quds elaborated that the occupation authorities tore down a residential building and two shops in Jerusalem besides to a home in Tuqu town, southeast of Bethlehem.

Al-Quds printed a photo showing a member of the Elayyan family inspecting the debris of his demolished building in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, while al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida printed two other photos for the demolition.

Al-Quds also reported that the occupation authorities also demolished the Humsa al-Bqaia Bedouin community in the northern Jordan Valley for the sixth time.

Besides, al-Hayat al-Jadida Israeli forces rounded up 20 Palestinians in multiple raids across the West Bank.

Highlighting the ongoing Israeli colonialist settlement policies, al-Quds said that the Israeli occupation authorities pressed ahead with the decision to expand a number of colonial settlements in the West Bank.

It added that the authorities have also proceeded with their decision to construct a new bypass road on lands confiscated from the Jerusalem-district towns of Kufr Aqab and Qalandiya.

According to al-Ayyam, the occupation authorities have started excavation works in favor of colonial settlement expansion in Hebron city.

Spotlighting the latest statistics on the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, the dailies said that 1,334 Palestinians contracted the virus and 10 others died of it in the occupied territories.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida added that 615 Covid-19 patients recovered in the occupied territories (the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip).

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported health officials warning that the infections curve in the occupied territories is bending upward.

According to al-Quds and al-Ayyam, 558 Palestinians tested positive for the virus and two others died of it in Jerusalem in the last two days.

Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that the Palestinian government approved the ministerial committee’s recommendations on examining the demands of trade unions.

Al-Quds printed a feature storey about the fact that the body of Khaled Nofal has been withheld by the Israeli occupation authorities for 19 days.

Nofal, a married 34-year-old father of a four-year-old boy, was killed by Israeli settlers near Ras Karkar village, northwest of Ramallah city, on February 5.

Premier Mohammad Shtayyeh was reported in al-Ayyam al-Hayat al-Jadida calling on Hamas to release 85 political prisoners held in Gaza prisons.

Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Riyad al-Malki was reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida cautioning against the attempts to give in to the Israeli occupation demands to stop dealing with Israel under Item 7 at the Human Rights Council’s meetings.

According to al-Ayyam, the Palestinian Doctors Association decided to escalate their protests as it called on the government to implement the agreement concluded between the two parties.

K.F.