RAMALLAH, Sunday, June 21, 2020 (WAFA) – News about Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh’s speech yesterday evening, in which he announced a new set of coronavirus restrictions made headlines in the front pages of the three Arabic Palestinian dailies on Sunday.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida, al-Ayyam and al-Quds said that the PM ordered at a press conference in Ramallah stricter measures in an effort to contain the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Palestine, including a five-day lockdown of Hebron Governorate, the worst-hit district of the West Bank, and a 48-hour complete lockdown of Nablus city to enable the medical teams to trace contacts of every newly diagnosed case of COVID-19.
He declared an immediate ban on weddings and graduation parties, mourning houses and all forms of public gatherings in all West Bank governorates.
The premier demanded all public and private facilities, factories and stores of all kinds in addition to cafes and restaurants, to adhere to the conditions of public safety, warning those who breach the closure and being brought to justice.
The dailies also said that total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among Palestinians in the diaspora has reached 2,150 and 150 deaths, according to a statement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Ibrahim Ramadan, the Governor of Nablus, ordered a full shutdown of the city for 48 hours after at least 26 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the city in less than 24 hours.
Palestinians stranded in Turkey due to coronavirus lockdown will be evacuated at the end of this month, according to Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry, as reported in al-Hayat al-Jadida.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that a Palestinian was injured in the head after he was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullets by Israeli forces during clashes in the village of al-Mughayyer, to the east of Ramallah.
Al-Ayyam said that 140 members of the US Congress signed a petition against the Israeli plan to annex portions of the West Bank.
Al-Ayyam and al-Quds reported that Mahmoud al-Aloul, Deputy Chairman of Fatah Movement and member of its Central Committee, said that legal committees are currently being formed in order to study a declaration of a Palestinian constitution.
K.T/M.N