Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a national emergency over the situation
Israeli firefighters continue to battle wildfires that have been raging near Jerusalem for two days. Emergency services have described them as some of the “largest ever” in the country’s history.
The fires broke out on Wednesday along the main highway connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, spreading quickly due to the heat and strong winds.
The key highway and several other roads in the area were shut down, with people in at least ten communities forced to evacuate from what witnesses described as “walls of flame.”
More than 160 firefighting teams and 12 aircraft were deployed to contain the wildfires.
On Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “we are now in a national emergency, not just a local one,” adding that “defending Jerusalem” was a priority.
Firefighters worked through the night, unblocking the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and allowing residents in several settlements to return to their homes on Thursday. However, the fire service acknowledged in a statement that “at this stage we still have not gained control” of the conflagration.
According to the local media, at least 12 civilians and 17 firefighters, including two pregnant women, have been hospitalized due to smoke inhalation and burns.
About 5,000 acres had burned out as of Thursday, including about 3,200 acres of forest. Canada Park, outside the city of Modi’in, has been the most affected, according to the forestry organization Jewish National Fund.
Netanyahu also announced that 18 people had been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the fires. However, police sources told the local media that only three detentions had actually been made and that the suspects had been trying to start fires not near Jerusalem but elsewhere.
The wildfires have prompted the Israeli authorities to reduce the scale of Independence Day celebrations, marked on April 30 and May 1. The traditional torch-lighting ceremony in Jerusalem was canceled.
The chairman of the Israel Fire and Air Rescue Association, Dov Ganem, has blamed the wildfires on the government, saying that it had been unprepared to tackle disasters of such scale. Ganem told the news outlet Walla that he had long been pushing for the country to develop an advanced aerial firefighting capability, but that his calls had been ignored by officials.
