Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised Turkey for sending in specialised aircraft to fight the wildfires that have hit the occupying Zionist entity yesterday, Anadolu Agency reports
The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that they sent planes to help Israel extinguish an outbreak of wildfires yesterday.
Israel has been fighting wildfires around the country since November 22 and has enlisted the aid of other countries as firefighters battle to put out flames damaging houses and forcing thousands to evacuate.
Anadolu Agency reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Turkey for sending specialised aircraft to help put out the wildfires.
Russia, Italy, Croatia and Greece have also offered to send planes to fight the blazes after Netanyahu asked for foreign aid, fearing a spread of the fires because of strong winds.
The Israeli Occupying Forces said it “deployed two Search and Rescue battalions in order to assist civilian efforts.”
It also called up about 500 reserve soldiers to back up the police and fire departments.
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The rash of fires are the worst since 2010, when Israel suffered the single deadliest wildfire in its history.
That blaze burned out of control for four days, killed 42 people and was extinguished only after firefighting aircraft from as far away as the United States arrived and brought it under control.
This week’s fires were spread across several places in the country.
Around 50,000 people were evacuated from their illegal homes and workplaces in the northern Israeli city of Haifa as firefighters battled a series of bush-fires, the local municipality said.
Police said the blazes started early Tuesday morning at Neve Shalom, an area outside Jerusalem where occupying Israeli settlers and Arabs live together.
Later, fires erupted in the northern Israeli area of Zichron Yaakov and elsewhere near Jerusalem.
So far, hundreds of homes have been damaged and thousands of people have been evacuated. Approximately a dozen residents were treated for smoke inhalation.
In 2010, Israel raided a Turkish aid ship en route to the blockaded Gaza Strip, which killed ten activists including eight Turkish citizens.
