«EPA» | The Israeli authorities announced today, Thursday, that the fires in the Jerusalem Mountains burned more than 24 thousand dunums so far, while the residents continue to evacuate the towns threatened with their fire, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced yesterday a “state of emergency” due to the fires that deepened internal differences in Israel.
The “Israel Hume” companion quoted the Israeli Ministry of Tourism as saying that a special operations room was formed to manage the evacuation of the population from the threats of fire, while the cost of reconstruction was estimated after the fires at millions of dollars.
The fires erupted since yesterday morning in the forests between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and they are still burning in 9 foci, including the house of Meir, Sharsheh, the Hagai, Nahaya Ilan, Misilat Tsion, Nafah Shalom, Canada and Anafa Park.
The fires spread due to the high temperatures and winds in the Al -Narji area, and the Israeli Meteorological Authority expected the fire to continue during the coming hours due to the wind.
According to preliminary estimates of the Jewish National Fund, the fire was devoured until 24 thousand dunums (the dunum is equal to one thousand square meters), according to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
The fires came on parts of the Eshtoual forest and the Canada Park, which was completely burned, the Aanafa Park, the Derich Burma area and the Shorish forest, west of Jerusalem.
During the last night, 163 firefighters, 21 four -wheel vehicles and Samson plane are operating in the fire area, with 12 fire aircraft to join.
About 20 Israelis were injured as a result of the fires and the inhalation of smoke, and 12 firefighters were injured, including the Fire Commander (Leader), Eyal Cassi.
The police closed the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and the residents were postponed along the road with the outbreak of forest fires in the area destroyed by the fires a week ago. The residential communities inhabited by thousands of people were evacuated.
As a preventive measure, the Eitanim Psychiatric Hospital in the fire area has been evacuated, and it includes 104 patients, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health.
The Protea Foundation for the Care of the Elderly and the Ritournol Center has also been evacuated to rehabilitate young people from addiction. The ministry stated that it is preparing for the possibility of evacuating the “Hadassah Hospital”, Ain Karem in Jerusalem, due to the continued fires in the region.
She said in a statement that it was decided to continue to reduce the number of patients in the hospital as a precautionary step, adding that if the fire approaches the hospital, patients with critical cases will be transferred to the floors fortified against the fire, while the rest of the patients will be transferred outside the hospital according to an emergency plan prepared in advance.
Its directives were also prepared to operate the trains in diesel engines, instead of electricity, due to the fear that the fires will extend the electricity network, according to the Israeli army radio.
According to the leader of the Jerusalem region at the Fire and Salvation Authority, Shmuel Friedman, the current fires may be the largest that Israel is ever witnessing. “We are facing perhaps the largest fire in the country,” he said in statements from the Fire Control Chamber.
He continued: “We have no idea about the cause of the fire, and we are not busy with that. During the fire, there were other fires at different points.”
And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned yesterday that the rapidly widespread forest fires near Jerusalem may reach the city, declaring the situation a “national state of emergency.”
He added in a statement, “We need to bring the largest possible number of fire engines and the creation of fire barriers that exceed the current fire lines …
investigation
The Minister of National Security, Etamar Bin Ghafir, hinted that the burning was behind the fires, as the police announced that they had arrested a resident of East Jerusalem, who was seized, “trying to set fire to the southern city field.” But no official statement was issued directly linking the two.
Bin Ghafir confirmed that the police will arrest anyone “involved in the terrorism of intentional burning”, while also monitoring any unrest. He issued instructions to large police forces and about 14,000 emergency members throughout the country to go out in patrols, after his evaluation that the fires were deliberately ignited.
But security officials said it was too early to determine whether the fires erupted as a result of intentional ignition against a national background.
The official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation stated that the internal security apparatus (the Shin Bet) is participating in the investigation to determine the causes of fires.
Aid
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Gaferta Saar, appealed to a number of European countries and others to provide assistance in combating fires.
As part of expected international assistance, France announced that it would send a fire plane to Israel, to contribute to putting out the fires in the Jerusalem Mountains.
Spain, Romania, Croatia and Italy will also send helicopters and additional aid, according to a statement by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
According to the Israeli (private channel), Saar went to his appeal to Britain, France, the Chic, Sweden, Argentina, Spain, Northern Macedonia and Azerbaijan.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted neighboring countries, including Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Italy and Bulgaria, to seek help. Netanyahu’s office announced that 3 aircraft will arrive close to Italy and Croatia to help fight fires.
Given the small number of employees, Bin Ghafir said that he instructed the organizers to cancel any evening activities related to the Independence Day celebrations on Thursday, which would have been required to attend firefighters.
Disagreement
Fires revealed differences between the Israeli army and the police under the leadership of Bin Ghaffir. The Israeli newspaper “Maariv” said that the Air Force accused Bin Ghaffir, of presenting a false narration regarding the coordination of the use of Samson planes in firefighting efforts.
She pointed out that there is anger in the Air Force after Bin Ghaffir’s statements, in which he said that he was directed to activate the sun’s planes to put out the fires.
The Air Force Bin Ghafir and the Fire Commission accused neglect and the unwillingness of operating his aircraft in the early hours of the fire, in order to save money.
“We have a system of military forecasts, and we realized that the weather will be difficult and unstable in the coming days, which will lead to huge fires,” an Air Force official told the miral.
He added, “Based on these expectations, we contacted the fire department and presented them with the possibility of activating Samson aircraft to help extinguish the fires, but they refused.”
For his part, the former Director General of the Israeli National Security Ministry, Tomer Lotan, accused Bin Ghafir of “prejudice to the readiness of the firefighting forces, which affected the dealing with the huge fire in the Jerusalem Mountains.”
Lotan told Haaretz that the National Security Council recommended in 2022 the purchase of Black Hawk helicopters for the police, in order to use them for purposes, including extinguishing fires.
For his part, Yair, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hinted that the Israeli left may be involved in setting fires to abort the celebrations of the so -called “Independence Day”.
“There is a suspicion, the left has been working strongly in the past weeks to cancel the Independence Day celebrations,” said Yair, who is in the United States.
He added, “I hope that the fires were ignited only by Arabs, and not in cooperation with people from our people,” as he put it.
