Iran Press/Middle East: Benjamin Netanyahu called for help as he couldn't handle the fires that were ravaging the Israel Thursday evening while destroying dozens of houses and forcing the evacuation of some 3,500 from their homes.
Israel's ministry of public security has warned Friday could be much worse amid searing heatwave. Officials are ready to vacate thousands more, The Times of Israel reported.
According to the Foreign Ministry of Israel, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Croatia had agreed to send help, but the aircraft would only be able to depart for Israel on Friday morning.
Effects of a fire in the central town of Mevo Modiim on May 23, 2019. (Israel Fire Service)
Some 22 people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation, including two in moderate condition, according to Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan held a situational assessment and instructed fire authorities to prepare for the possibility that a national emergency be declared, with Friday’s temperatures expected to eclipse 38° C throughout the country.
Temperatures hit 37° C in Tel Aviv, 43° C in Beersheba in the Negev and 50° C in the Arava region.
The largest fire was in the Ben Shemen Forest and around the 250-member community of Mevo Modiim in central Israel.
In the West Bank, police evacuated some 30 families from their homes in the Beit Hagai settlement as a fire approached the community.
Firefighters had yet to gain control of the majority of the fires as sunset approached, the spokesman said.
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire near Beitar Illit, in the West Bank, May 23, 2019. (Aharon Krohn/Flash90)
A firefighting plane was also working alongside rescue teams to douse a major blaze near the central Israeli town of Elad, which Hebrew media reports said was believed to have begun from an improperly extinguished bonfire for the Lag B’Omer holiday. 101/214
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