11 injured by smoke inhalation as huge blazes rage in communities near Lebanon border.
By World Israel News Staff
Huge fires raged across wide swathes of northern Israel overnight Monday, following a large bombardment of rockets, missiles, and drones launched by Shia terror group Hezbollah.
The blazes were sparked by the explosion of Hezbollah weapons across the region, with fires being reported in the evacuated city of Kiryat Shmona and numerous smaller towns and villages, along with open areas directly adjacent to commercial and industrial zones.
Numerous major highways and thoroughfares were closed throughout the north due to the blazes.
At least 30 crews of firefighters were “working hard to protect communities and property,” the Israel Fire and Rescue Services said in a media statement.
11 people, including both firefighters and civilians, were reported to have been treated for smoke inhalation at local hospitals.
Exacerbating the situation are security concerns regarding the safety of firefighting crews on the ground. Last week, a senior official within Israel’s firefighting authority told Hebrew-language Walla News that the army had prevented firefighters from reaching blazes adjacent to the border, presumably due to fears that they would be targeted by Hezbollah terrorists.
Social media footage depicted residents in some of the communities attempting to fight the fires themselves, without support from professionals.
“You can’t breathe, the whole city is full of smoke and you can’t leave the houses,” Amit Friedman, a resident of Kiryat Shmona who chose not to leave the city, told Ynet.
“Since noon, we have been in this nightmare of the fires that are reaching the houses in the city…We demand that the government take care of the north. It seems they have forgotten us.”
As of Tuesday morning, the majority of the fires were “under control,” though not extinguished, the Fire and Rescue Services said. The authority stressed that there is “no danger to human life” posed by the fires at the moment.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a media statement on Tuesday that the fires were proof Israel needed to abandon a policy of “proportionality” regarding the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah.
“Instead of bowing down… it is time for all of Lebanon to burn,” he said.