JERUSALEM — Israeli police said Friday that at least 12 people were in custody on suspicion of starting a series of huge fires that has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and left widespread damage across the country.
Some of the fires, which started Monday night, were still burning Friday and numerous countries, including Russia, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt, had sent emergency crews and firefighting planes to help Israel tackle the blazes. The Palestinian Authority also sent four firefighting teams.
Israeli media reported that the largest firefighting plane, the Supertanker, was on its way from the United States and is expected to land in Israel on Friday evening. The fires have spread quickly due to gusty winds and a lack of rain.
Officials and politicians said that at least half of the fires, which raged from the Jerusalem area to the north of country, had been started intentionally for nationalist reasons. They were quick to label it a new form of terrorism.
Police have not disclosed the identities of the suspects arrested so far.
In a press conference Thursday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Any arson or incitement to arson is terrorism. Whoever tries to burn parts of the State of Israel will be punished.”
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a member of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party, said in a message on Twitter: “Only those to whom the land does not belong to are capable of burning it.”
Israeli-Arab politicians said that the government was taking advantage of situation to incite against Arabs and the Palestinians.
Overnight Thursday, a huge blaze engulfed the small community of Beit Meir in the Jerusalem hills and multiple families had to be evacuated. Although there were no casualties, heavy damage was reported to some of the properties. Two people were arrested suspected of starting that fire.
On Thursday, more than 60,000 people from Haifa were evacuated from their homes as massive fires blew into the center of the city, which sits on Israel’s northern coast and is the third largest. By Friday morning, however, the fires seemed under control and people slowly began to return to their homes. Israel’s electric company said power lines were down in more than 700 residences and damage was widespread.
The first fire broke out Monday night near Neve Shalom, a mixed Jewish-Arab community halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. As that fire was brought under control, another erupted in Zichron Yaakov, a town just south of Haifa. There, dozens of residents were forced to flee their homes and several houses were completely destroyed.
On Wednesday, the community of Nataf in the Jerusalem Hills also came under fire. Property was damaged there too. Israel police said they had detained four Palestinians believed to have started the fire, though it was not clear if it was on purpose or by accident.
Throughout the night Wednesday, firefighters battled blazes in other areas too. In one place, near the city of Modi’in, police were forced to close down the main highway to Jerusalem. Also there, residents were evacuated.
More than 100 people have been injured, mostly from smoke inhalation, but no fatalities have been reported.
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