Israel arrests 10 Palestinians for suspected arson
Detainees include 3 people found in car near Ramallah with filled and empty gasoline canisters, rags and lighters

Israeli security forces arrested 10 Palestinians in recent days on suspicion of arson, as firefighters battle a wave of fires across the country.
The detainees include three people arrested overnight Friday-Saturday in a car near the West Bank city of Ramallah, the army said. Full and empty canisters of gasoline, rags, gloves and lighters were found in the vehicle.
Another suspect detained Saturday was identified by an official from the Israel Parks and Nature Authority as the person who set fire to brush near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich said Friday night that investigators know who set a fire massive blaze in the woods on the Jerusalem hills near Nataf, which also spread to other communities. He said the authorities “were prepared to thwart” those involved through “deterrence and catching suspects, through observers and patrols in the sky and on land.”
“These are very simple terror attacks,” he told Army Radio. “Generally the attackers themselves know about it only a few minutes beforehand, so we can’t make preventative arrests.”
Police previously said they had arrested 15 people on suspicion of negligence or deliberately starting fires around the country, without providing many details on their identities. It was unclear whether Palestinians were among some of the suspects.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday there was “no doubt” some of the fires were started deliberately. “There is a price to pay for the crimes committed, there is a price to pay for arson terrorism,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority this week sent 41 firefighters and eight trucks to fight the massive fires in the northern city of Haifa. Palestinian firefighters from Ramallah also joined forces with their Israeli counterparts on Friday night to battle a blaze in the West Bank settlement of Halamish. And on Saturday, the PA fire chief was to visit the Israeli fire service command centers in Rishon Letzion and Neve Ilan.