Ramla Market Massacre 1948: Zionist Bombs Among the Shoppers

On 30 March 1948 Zionist gangs attacked the market of the city of Ramla while it was crowded with shoppers, killing 25 Palestinians. [1] [2] [3]

The massacre struck at the heart of the city’s daily life and came as part of a series of Zionist attacks on Arab markets in the months before the Nakba. It is one of the Zionist massacres against the Palestinian people.

The Ramla market massacre at a glance

The massacre

The Ramla market drew people from the city and the villages of its district, and the Zionist gangs chose it as a target because it guaranteed the largest number of civilian victims. On 30 March 1948 they attacked the market, killing 25 Arab citizens. [1] [2] [3] The Al Jazeera Net list records the massacre in March 1948 with the same toll, without giving the day. [4]

The Al Jazeera Encyclopedia describes the “bloody attack” carried out by a member of the Zionist gangs on the Ramla vegetable market: he slipped into the market disguised in Arab clothing and planted a bomb. [5]

The accounts and the dates

The Al Jazeera Encyclopedia places the vegetable market attack in the weeks before 22 February 1948, [5] while the Palestinian lists place the market massacre on 30 March. [1] [2] The available sources do not establish whether the market was targeted twice or whether the two accounts describe a single attack with different dates. This article adopts the date and toll of the Palestinian lists and presents the other account alongside them.

Ramla in the year of the Nakba

The Ramla market was not the only target. The next day, 31 March 1948, the Stern Gang blew up the Cairo–Haifa train near Binyamina, killing 40 passengers. [4] Read: the Binyamina train massacre.

Months later, in July 1948, Zionist forces occupied Ramla itself, committed massacres in the city and its surroundings, including at the village of Jimzu on 9 July, and expelled most of its people; according to WAFA, only 25 families remained in the city. [1] [4] For the city before the Nakba, read: Lydda and Ramla.

Conclusion

In the Ramla market, as in the markets of Haifa, Jerusalem and Jaffa, the Zionist gangs chose the place where people gathered to buy their food, and killed 25 Palestinians. The massacre was part of the campaign of terror that paved the way for the occupation of Ramla and the expulsion of its people a few months later.

Frequently asked questions about the Ramla market massacre

When did the Ramla market massacre take place?

On 30 March 1948 according to Palestinian lists; the Al Jazeera Encyclopedia mentions an attack on the Ramla vegetable market before 22 February 1948.

How many people were killed in the Ramla market massacre?

25.

Who carried out the Ramla market massacre?

Zionist gangs; the available Arab sources do not name the gang.

How was the attack carried out?

According to the Al Jazeera Encyclopedia, a member of the Zionist gangs slipped into the vegetable market disguised in Arab clothing and planted a bomb.

What happened to Ramla after the massacre?

Zionist forces occupied it in July 1948, committed massacres in the city and its surroundings, and expelled most of its people.

Sources and references

Arabic-language sources are listed with translated titles.

1. “Israeli Massacres,” Palestinian National Information Centre (WAFA).
2. Hana al-Kahlout, “The Assassination of a Homeland: 37 Israeli Massacres in the Year of the Nakba,” Arabi21, 15 May 2014.
3. “Zionist Massacres in Palestine in 1948 (1–3),” Al-Rafidain Center for Strategic Studies.
4. “Israeli Massacres Against the Palestinian People,” Al Jazeera Net, 3 October 2004.
5. “The Semiramis Hotel Bombing Massacre in Jerusalem, 1948,” Al Jazeera Encyclopedia, 7 October 2024.