A major blaze destroyed a large area of forestry in the area of Abu Gosh, near the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway on Tuesday afternoon 19 Sivan 5774. In his Twitter message Israel Police spokesman Mickey Levy stated “over 200 acres of forestry was destroyed” in the fire. He added an investigation is taking place into the cause of the fire.

Of late, there has been a sharp increase in arson attacks perpetrated by Arabs.

12 fire trucks responded to the forest between Abu Gosh and Kibbutz Maale HaChamisha. In addition, six aerial fire units worked to bring the fire under control. At one point, Highway 1 was shut in the direction of Tel Aviv from Givat Shaul to Abu Gosh.

A bit later in the afternoon a large fire was reported in a forest in the Gilo area of the southern capital. Residents on Dagan Street were evacuated from their homes. That blaze was brought under control in a relatively short time with the assistance of four firefighting planes.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)