Israel’s firefighting services announced the end of its nation-wide operation, after eight days of battling wildfires in central and northern Israel. According to a statement, firefighters fought 90 fires in 1,773 locations, 39 of which were termed major and required ten or more crews. Israeli officials said that the rehabilitation of the natural serve parks and infrastructures damaged by the wide fires would likely continue for as much as 30 years, as hundreds of apartments have been rendered uninhabitable in the aftermath of the disasters, particularly in the north Israeli city of Haifa. The Jewish National Fund estimates that overall, 11,000 hectares of forests were incinerated by the fires, with 7,500 hectares of the 11,000 were in the Jerusalem Hills alone.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during remarks he made at a memorial ceremony for those who fell in the Sinai military Campaign of 1956, declared that Israel will rebuild the houses and rehabilitate the forests ‘ten-times-fold’. “We will rebuild the houses that were burned, we will rehabilitate the forests that were burned by a malicious hand. Instead of every burned tree, ten trees will bloom,” said Netanyahu. The Israel Police is currently holding 30 people on suspicion of arson or incitement, but refuses to release details regarding the nature of the allegations on 13 of them. 20 of those arrested are Israeli-Arabs. Out of the over 90 fires that broke out in the past week, the police said it suspects 40 to be as a result of arson.