More than 60,000 dunams (14,830 acres) of land have been burned since the start of the year, 45,000 (11,120 acres) of them since the beginning of the month, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority reports.
This exceeds the 25,000 dunams (6,200 acres) of forest destroyed by fire in the Jerusalem Hills in 2021, and even the more than 50,000 dunams (12,000 acres) that went up in flames in the Carmel Nature Reserve in northern Israel in 2010, taking the lives of 44 people.
Half the affected areas, ignited by rockets from the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, are in nature reserves and national parks in the Galilee and Golan Heights in northern Israel, with the rest in other open areas and forests in the region.
With Israel heading for a weekend heatwave, the authority reminds the public that lighting fires in open areas is prohibited.
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Thursday, June 13, 2024
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