Fires around Jerusalem, Netanyahu: ‘Arrests for arson’

Fire emergency in the hills of the Israeli capital: European army and planes in action, but causes remain uncertain according to firefighters

Israel continues to burn today, 1 May. Operations to extinguish the fires that have been raging for days in the hills around Jerusalem have not stopped, while the hypothesis of arson is being raised, amid suspicions, arrests and conflicting statements.

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 18 people were arrested for alleged involvement in the arson attacks, after Hamas incitements to ‘burn everything down’. But the police, quoted by the Israeli media, downplayed the toll: the actual arrests would be three, and would not be directly linked to the main fires.

The flames prompted the government to activate a vast containment operation: hundreds of firefighters, the army and numerous fire-fighting planes were involved, including aircraft from Italy, Ukraine, Spain, France, Romania and Croatia, which landed at the Hatzor air base. During the night, four Israeli Air Force C-130Js carried out more than 95 fire-fighting drops, while intelligence units mapped the worst affected areas and coordinated the distribution of more than 300,000 litres of water.

Despite political statements, the fire brigade remains cautious: the cause of the fires remains officially unknown. Netanyahu, speaking at a public event in the evening, reiterated the severity of the emergency, speaking of ‘significant damage to nature and people’, and promised decisive action to extinguish the outbreaks and rebuild the affected areas.

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(Photo: © AndKronos)