Israel fires: Tens of thousands flee as fires hit Haifa

[Origanalist]

Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated from their homes as wildfires rage through parts of the Israeli city of Haifa.
Huge flames are being fanned by hot, dry winds in residential areas in the north of the city of about 300,000.
Fires are also threatening homes near Jerusalem and in the West Bank.


A minister has said that half of the fires were "apparently arson", but police have not confirmed that any had been started deliberately.
Hundreds of military reservists have been called up to help battle the three-day outbreak of fires.


No deaths or serious injuries have been reported, though the national ambulance service said 35 people had been treated for smoke inhalation.
In Haifa, schools, kindergartens, the university and an old people's home were evacuated.

Residents loaded up supermarket trolleys with belongings and fled their homes, the Associated Press news agency reports.



Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav told Channel 2 TV there were indications that one of the fires started when "someone tossed a cigarette in an area full of oil and flammable fluids" in an industrial zone.

Further south, Highway 443 - which links Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, crossing through the West Bank - was closed to morning traffic on Thursday as another blaze reached the city of Modi'in.

Homes and cars were damaged, and 300 students were evacuated from a school, in Talmon, an Israel settlement in the occupied West Bank, police said.

Palestinian Civil Defence officers said it had taken them five hours to put out a fire in fields nearby on Wednesday.
Several countries - including Cyprus, Russia, Italy, Croatia and Greece - have sent help and equipment, including aircraft, to help tackle the blazes.



Four Palestinian have been arrested and are due to appear in court on suspicion of starting a bonfire negligently.
"Almost 50% of the fires are apparently arson," Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Army Radio.

more..http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle...e=news_central

[goldenequity]

Israel:

Vocal Europe ‏@thevocaleurope · 14 min.
ISRAEL | State of Emergency declared in #Haifa #Israel due to massive fires. Residents asked to evacuate.

President of Russia ‏@KremlinRussia_E · 18 min.
Telephone conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel asked Russia for assistance in fighting wildfires







Haaretz.com ‏@haaretzcom · 9 min.
60,000 Haifa residents told to immediately evacuate as fires rage throughout Israel

CBC News Alerts ‏@CBCAlerts · 54 min.
Tens of thousands of people evacuated in northern Israel as fires rage around Haifa. More @CBCNews:

[goldenequity]

Wildfires in Israel force over 80,000 people to evacuate, Netanyahu blames 'arsonist terrorism'

There are 15 active fires so far, according to the prime minister.
Since Tuesday police reported over 200 fires in the region.

Suspects have been already arrested,
Israeli’s police chief Roni Alsheich told reporters earlier without giving any further details.

“It’s safe to assume that whoever is setting the fires isn’t doing it only out of pyromania.
It's safe to assume that if it is arson, it is politically-motivated.”

Some politicians, including Education Minister Naftali Bennett from the far-right Jewish Home party,
blamed the arsons on the country’s Arab minority population.

“Only those to whom the land doesn't belong are able to burn it,” Bennett tweeted in Hebrew.

Previously AP reported that four of the arrested arsonists were Palestinians.

[goldenequity]

tonight...

[Petar]

[goldenequity]

Sunni Muslims are our brothers and suffer just as much as we do.
This isn't a Shi'a vs. Sunni war.
It's a Shi'a/Sunni vs. Salafism war.

Tens of thousands of Sunnis in #Iraq are fighting Da'ish.
Most of the Syrian army is Sunni.
Salafi jihadism targets all of us.

Lots of Truth Bombs here.. different lens
https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity