More than 20 people were detained by Israel Police in recent days in connection with wildfires that swept across central and northern Israel last week and which could have been started by arsonists.
Firefighters have dealt with more than 250 large fires since last weekend, said Yoram Levi, the spokesman for Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services. Ran Sheluf, head of the investigation unit of the Israel fire and rescue services, said the total number of fires reported to authorities was over 1,500 fires. “This is twice the usual number,” he said. “The cause of the fires is either negligence or being started deliberately.”
On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to thank him for sending fire trucks and personnel to fight the blazes. Palestinian fire crews assisted Israeli crews in northern Israel and near Jerusalem.
Netanyahu heralded the fact that Jews and Arabs alike opened their homes to victims of the fire.
The Palestinian Civil Defense provided eight fire trucks Thursday in response to an Israeli request for help, according to Nael Al-Azzeh of the Palestinian Civil Defense, based in West Bank city of Ramallah. Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld tweeted images of the Palestinian firefighters working alongside their Israeli counterparts in Haifa.
Tens of thousands of residents of the Israeli port city of Haifa, who had been evacuated as wildfires closed in, were allowed to return home Friday. Authorities had ordered the evacuation of 60,000 people there as fires menaced 11 neighborhoods. Mayor Yona Yahav said 700 homes in the city had been damaged or destroyed. He described the scale of the fire as “unprecedented in Haifa.”
Israel's Cabinet met in Haifa Sunday in an act of solidarity, with Prime Minister Netanyahu saying he hoped to form a multi-national firefighting force in the future.
The blazes scorching northern Israel began in the northern community of Zichron Ya’akov, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Haifa. The fire there, which has now been extinguished, was definitely arson, according to Uri Chobotaro, of the Coast region fire and rescue services. backlash from others, including some among Israel’s Arab population, who pointed out that many who see themselves as Palestinians live in those places being ravaged by fire, or have families who originally came from these areas.
