Firefighters bring large fire at Jerusalem yeshiva under control
No injuries reported in blaze said to have started in nearby brush
At least four firefighting crews brought under control a large fire that broke out at a yeshiva in Jerusalem on Tuesday night.
No injuries were reported in the blaze, which is said to have started in nearby brush before spreading to the yeshiva on Bayit Vegan Street in the capital.
The six-story building was quickly evacuated and crews were working to put out the fire.
The incident came after a spate of devastating wildfires nationwide forced thousands of people to flee their homes and left thousands of residences damaged or destroyed. Most of the fires were caused by the weather and incidents of negligence, though officials have pointed to arson as the cause for at least some. Police have arrested at least 35 people, the majority of them Palestinian, on suspicion of arson or incitement to arson.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli forces foiled an arson attempt near a checkpoint in the central West Bank, the Defense Ministry said.
Surveillance camera operators identified three people starting a fire in an open area near the checkpoint on Route 5, to the west of the major settlement of Ariel.
IDF troops were dispatched to the scene, where they apprehended three Palestinian suspects, the statement said. Firefighters who arrived were able to quickly extinguish the flames.
The Israel Fire and Rescue Services has said it dealt with 1,773 fires from November 18 to November 26.
Blazes burned hundreds of homes and ravaged tens of thousands of dunams of forest and scrubland, with reservists and international firefighting teams — including firefighting aircraft — drafted in to help battle the fires.
Firefighting planes from countries including Russia, Turkey, Greece, France, Spain, Canada and the US rushed to Israel to help dump tons of water and retardants on some of fires that blazed across the country, fanned by unseasonably dry easterly winds.
Hardest hit was Haifa, where 527 apartments were destroyed completely, leaving 1,600 people homeless, and from which 75,000 residents had to be evacuated as the flames threatened 11 neighborhoods.
Zichron Yaakov, the Jerusalem Hills and parts of the West Bank were also affected, with dozens of homes damaged or destroyed.