Wildfires rage near Jerusalem, Israel PM asks many countries for help
Israeli security and rescue personnel work near Latrun in central Israel, as wildfires due to extreme heat and winds broke out in central Israel, April 30, 2025 REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
JERUSALEM- Wildfires raged on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of communities and the closure of a main highway as Israel appealed for international assistance to help fight the blaze.
TV footage showed fires burning along the main Route 1 Jerusalem to Tel Aviv highway and people abandoning cars and running away from the flames as thick smoke billowed over the surrounding hilltops.
Israel has requested international aid to fight the wildfires
, which were still spreading as of Wednesday evening. Officials had reached out to Britain, France, Greece, Italy and other countries for assistance, according to the Israeli government
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Italy and Croatia were expected to send three firefighting planes to help extinguish the flames.
sraeli media reported that 120 fire and rescue services had mobilised dozens of teams, aircraft and helicopters to try to contain the fires and the military said its search and rescue forces were assisting the operations.
Three communities were evacuated, police said, and at least 13 people were injured. There were no reports of fatalities.
The fire broke out on Israel's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and many ceremonies marking the eve of its Independence Day were cancelled, including the main state event due to be held in Jerusalem.
Israel's largest ever'
The Fire and Rescue Service's Jerusalem District commander says that today's fires may be the largest in Israel's history and that firefighters have a long way to go before the blazes are contained.
'We are amidst a very large wildfire, maybe the largest there has ever been in this country,' Shmulik Friedman says during a press conference held in Eshtaol this evening.
'Regarding our activity, it will continue for a very long time. We are far from having control [over the fires],' he says.
He said that the blazes, which began near Mesilat Zion at around 9:30 a.m., were carried west by strong winds. The fires have since shifted direction eastward.
The senior firefighter warns that winds are expected to pick up this evening and could reach speeds of up to 90-100 kilometers per hour (56-62 mph), which could worsen the spread of the wildfires.
When asked about the underlying causes, Friedman replies: 'We do not currently know what caused the fire, we have absolutely no clue, and we are not yet dealing with this.
Reuters/ Times of Israel
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
MTV Lebanon
an hour ago
- MTV Lebanon
Israel Knesset Rejects Vote on Dissolving Itself
Israel's parliament rejected early on Thursday a preliminary vote to dissolve itself, the Knesset said in a statement, after an agreement was reached regarding a dispute over conscription. The vote, which could have been a first step leading to an early election that polls show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would lose, was rejected with 61 lawmakers opposing it to 53 supporting it. The Knesset consists of 120 seats, and the majority needed to pass the vote was 61 lawmakers. This gives Netanyahu's ruling coalition further time to resolve its worst political crisis yet and avoid a ballot, which would be Israel's first since the eruption of the war with Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu has been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis. "I am pleased to announce that after long discussions we have reached agreements on the principles on which the draft law will be based," Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee Yuli Edelstein said in a statement. Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether. The exemptions have been a hot-button issue in Israel for years but have become particularly contentious during the war in Gaza, as Israel has suffered its highest battlefield casualties in decades and its stretched military is in need of more troops. Growing increasingly impatient with the political deadlock, ultra-Orthodox coalition factions have said they will vote with opposition parties in favour of dissolving the Knesset and bringing forward an election that is not due until late 2026. "It's more than ever urgent to replace Netanyahu's government and specifically this toxic and harmful government," said Labour's opposition lawmaker Merav Michaeli. "It's urgent to end the war in Gaza and to bring back all the hostages. It's urgent to start rebuilding and healing the state of Israel." Successive polls have predicted that Netanyahu's coalition would lose in an election, with Israelis still reeling over the security failure of Palestinian militant group Hamas' October 7 2023 attack and hostages still held in Gaza.
Ya Libnan
11 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Growing fears of massive strikes on Iran as nuclear negotiations sputter
If the U.S.-Iranian talks fail, and strikes on Iran occur, the ramifications could be very far-reaching. U.S. President Donald Trump has been presented with a broad array of potential military options against Iran should ongoing nuclear negotiations with that country fail. Israel is already reportedly moving ever closer to at least being in a position to launch its own strikes on Iranian nuclear sites . The direct and indirect blowback from any such operations against Iran could be immense. Fears that U.S.-Iranian nuclear talks are on the verge of collapse have been steadily growing in the past week or so amid statements from both sides outlining potentially intractable positions. Iran's ability to continue domestic enrichment of nuclear material that could be used to produce nuclear weapons has emerged as a key stumbling block to reaching a deal. 'If the President directed [it], is CENTCOM [U.S. Central Command] prepared to respond with overwhelming force to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran?' Congressman Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican, asked U.S. Army Gen. Michael 'Erik' Kurilla at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee today. Kurilla is currently head of CENTCOM, making him the top officer overseeing operations across the Middle East. 'I have provided the Secretary of Defense [Pete Hegseth] and the President [Trump] a wide range of options,' Kurilla said in response. 'I take that as a yes?' Rogers, the present chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, asked in return, appearing to refer to the specific wording of his question, to include the possible use of 'overwhelming force.' 'Yes,' Kurrila said. Top U.S. military commander in the Middle East General Kurilla confirms that he has presented military options on Iran to President Trump & SecDef Hegseth in House Armed Services Committee this morning. It is important to note here that U.S. presidents and defense secretaries regularly ask to be briefed on potential military options in light of crises or heightened risks of one erupting. Being presented with a full range of operational possibilities, including large-scale strikes or other significant direct action, does not mean the United States is automatically committed to pursuing any specific course of action, something we will come back to later on. Publicly, Trump has consistently advocated for reaching a deal with Iran to avoid any need to take military action, though he has also raised the possibility of military action in the event talks reach a dead end. He has separately said that he has pressed his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to hold off on striking Iranian targets while negotiations are ongoing. There have been reports of significant friction between the two leaders , as well. Amid all this, the U.S. president is said to be facing increasingly intense pressure from a faction of domestic political allies to acquiesce to and/or join in on Israeli attacks on Iran, according to a new report just today from Politico . TWZ
Al Manar
14 hours ago
- Al Manar
MP Raad Discusses Political Developments with Le Drian, Voices Support for UNIFIL Mandate Extension, Reconstruction Conference
Head of Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, received the French presidential envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, at the bloc's headquarters in Haret Hreik. Le Drian was accompanied by the French ambassador to Lebanon, Hervé Magro, and the meeting was also attended by Hezbollah's head of Arab and international relations, Sayyed Ammar Al-Moussawi. The meeting tackled current political developments in Lebanon, in light of the continued Israeli attacks on Lebanese sovereignty and ongoing violations of the ceasefire agreement. For his part, the French envoy presented his country's efforts to organize an international conference for the reconstruction of southern Lebanon, in addition to Paris's efforts to renew the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). MP Raad affirmed Hezbollah's interest in discussing the reform bills before Parliament, emphasizing the Party's support for the Lebanese state's position on extending UNIFIL's mandate.
