Thousands of people across Israel have been evacuated from their homes as fires rage in multiple locations in the north of Israel and near Jerusalem.
As state of emergency was declared on Thursday as fires raged near the city. Haifa University was evacuated and several areas of the city were also evacuated. Watch the video below to see how close it is.
#BREAKING State of emergency was declared in Haifa, #Israel, due to massive fires. Residents asked to evacuate ASAP pic.twitter.com/01asm6SwqO
— Yonat Friling (@Foxyonat) November 24, 2016
More than 30 different fire fighter teams and 12 IDF teams have been battling the blazes, and Magen David Adom emergency services are working around the clock. Almost all of Israel’s active firefighters are currently tackling these blazes.
Netanyahu called for international assistance on Wednesday. As a result, four planes and around 50 firefighters have arrived from Cyprus and Greece to aid in fighting the fires.
Israel is experiencing extreme dry and warm weather and, coupled with strong winds, the risk of fires has significantly increased. However, Arab arsonists are suspected of starting these fires, taking advantage of the harsh weather conditions to spread destruction and damage.
On Army Radio, Shimon Ben Ner, a senior Haifa firefighter, said “I know for a fact that they tried to set fire to the department’s station in Haifa deliberately to cause the Haifa fire department to be paralyzed.”
This is not out of the question. There are past examples where Palestinians have been convicted of starting fires and causing widespread destruction. If it is arson, it is thought that the Israeli governments plans to quiet calls to prayer at mosques is the motivations behind the fires.
Pray for Israel.
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