RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israel’s Civil Administration ordered a West Bank town’s municipality to close its central landfill site, officials said on Sunday.

An order from the administration — Israel’s military body ruling the West Bank — told al-Bireh municipality it will close the waste disposal site on Dec. 15 for environmental reasons.

Dr. Iyad Daraghmeh, the municipality’s chief of health, warned an “environmental disaster will befall the region,” as the site was the only available landfill in the central West Bank town.

The civil administration order — delivered by the Palestinian liaison in recent days — said the landfill site was too small to continue taking in waste, and does not have a legal license, municipality officials said.

Israeli authorities seized the landfill site in the early days of the second intifada, officials said, and only reopened it for Palestinian use after a 2005 ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court which gave Palestinians access for a few hours each day.

The landfill site is also used by Israeli settlements surrounding al-Bireh, the municipality said.

A spokesperson from Israel’s Civil Administration could not be reached for comment.

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