Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 6, 2023
From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 6, 2023
Firefighters from Miami Beach head to Israel to help in war effort
Firefighters battle blazes in Kiryat Shmona after Hamas fires rockets from Lebanon, November 2, 2023. (Fire and Rescue Services)
Eight firefighters are leaving the United States for Israel to help fill in for Israeli firefighters who have been called up to serve in the IDF.
The firefighters from Miami Beach, Florida, say it is the first city-sanctioned such mission in the US.
Capt. Adonis Garcia, the union president who came up with the idea for this mission, says most of the volunteers heading to Israel today are not Jewish.
Garcia says about a quarter of Israel’s firefighters have been called up since Hamas’s October 7 murderous rampage in southern Israel. Garcia and others have served before in natural disasters, including Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake. But city officials say it is the first time they have been authorized to go to a war zone.
