Wildfires continued to threaten swaths of forest and fields in Israel on Thursday, though firefighters successfully reopened the main road linking the country’s two principal cities.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, declared a national emergency after the fires broke out on Wednesday along the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, prompting police to shut the route and evacuate thousands of people from nearby communities.
Hundreds were forced from their homes about 19 miles (30km) west of Jerusalem, and Israel’s most-watched television network, Channel 12, had to break off from broadcasting via its studio about 10 miles from the city during a news bulletin.
High winds that have fanned the fires led to the cancellation of many events celebrating Israel’s foundation in 1948. A prerecorded rehearsal of a torch-lighting ceremony was screened instead of the planned event.
The Times of Israel newspaper described “a surreal, fraught evening in which Israel is starting to mark its 77th Independence Day while firefighters battle some of the worst wildfires in its history”.
In a speech at one ceremony, Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said the wildfires were “part of a climate crisis that we must not ignore”.
The anniversary celebrations had already caused controversy after government ministers were heckled at some events for failing to bring back all the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and on Tuesday rightwing activists attacked a synagogue where a joint Arab-Israeli memorial event was being screened.
Political tensions are high after a turbulent few weeks with waves of protests and a public clash between Netanyahu and the head of the Shin Bet internal security service. Herzog called for an end to “polarisation” in Israel.
Israel’s military said troops were helping in Jerusalem and other central districts. “Overnight dozens of engineering vehicles started operating throughout the country to form lines to prevent the fire from spreading into other trees,” it said in a statement. “The IAF [air force] continues assisting in the effort to extinguish the fires.”
Israel’s firefighting service said 163 ground crews and 12 aircraft were working to contain the flames. Military planes have dropped hundreds of tonnes of retardant in an effort to stop the spread of the blaze.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s medical rescue service, said it treated 23 people on Wednesday, mostly for smoke inhalation and burns. Seventeen firefighters were injured, according to the public broadcaster Kan.
Witnesses described “walls of flame” surging across woodland on the slopes of the foothills west of Jerusalem, though the situation appeared to have improved on Thursday as winds dropped and a light rain fell.
There has been some criticism of the response of emergency services. Speaking from near the city of Modiin as fires burned on a nearby hillside, Yuval Aharoni, 40, said: “It’s just very sad because we knew the weather, we kind of knew that would happen, and still we feel like they weren’t ready enough with the big planes that can drop large amounts of water.”
Late on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said firefighting aircraft were expected to arrive from Croatia, France, Italy, Romania and Spain to join the operation.
The fire and rescue service’s Jerusalem district commander, Shmulik Friedman, described “a very large wildfire, maybe the largest there has ever been in this country” and said the effort to contain the blaze would continue for “a very long time”.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, hinted that the fires may have been deliberately started, though authorities have not presented any evidence to support such claims.
AFP contributed to this report
