Palestinian Civil Defense teams are trying to control a large fire that broke out in a building housing commercial shops and a nearby market after clashes between the Israeli army and a number of youths in the neighboring cities of Ramallah and Al-Bireh. Yazan Omar, the director of Civil Defense in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate, stated: "The Ramallah market was raided by occupation forces early this morning after four o'clock, and clashes occurred in the area."
In a press statement, he added: "While supervising the firefighting operations, the occupation forces launched sound bombs and gas in the area. These bombs were fired in a crowded area, where the shops contained flammable materials such as clothing, plastic tools, and cosmetics. The fire ignited in this location, within a complex of 6,000 square meters that includes 100 commercial shops, the market, and stalls, all of which are combustible."
Dozens of firefighters were seen attempting to control the fire that spread to multiple locations. Omar reported: "Our teams have been working continuously for five hours, with 60 rescue and firefighting personnel using seven vehicles and eight water supply tanks." He explained that the nature of the old building belonging to the Al-Bireh municipality increased the difficulty of accessing and controlling the fire.
He added: "As you can see, the area is very dangerous, especially since it is an old building packed with shops and flammable materials. Therefore, firefighting teams faced difficulties in entering and breaching the building." He continued: "Over the five hours, our teams were able to breach this building... so far, we have managed to control 80 percent of the fire, with 20 percent remaining. Full control will be achieved in the coming hours."
The Ramallah municipality estimated the material losses resulting from the fire at tens of millions of shekels. Rubin Khateeb, the acting mayor of Al-Bireh, stated: "When we talk about material losses, we are talking about tens of millions of shekels. Each of these commercial shops has goods that could amount to at least half a million shekels.” He added: "We are talking about a fire that affected 200 commercial shops and stalls in the center of the town." Khateeb clarified that "since the early dawn hours, occupation forces raided the city center aiming to invade a number of exchange shops, and a number of citizens confronted them by throwing stones, and they responded with incendiary bombs and live ammunition, leading to the ignition of the market area."
