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B’chasdei Hashem the skies of Israel are filling with clouds and Israelis are settling in for a number of days of rain and thunderstorms.

With the tragic fires of last week extinguished, Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan held a ceremony to bid farewell to the international firefighting teams and to thank them for coming to Israel’s aid as they did.

Erdan said there were over 1,700 individual fires and over 70,000 people were compelled to relocate, leaving their homes. 1,895 homes were damaged. Aerial firefighters assisted in extinguishing 39 very large fires that threatened areas of the country.

Erdan thanked the teams, as well as the heroism of local firefighters and police, citing no one lost their lives “due to the quick and efficient response”. He praised the mesirus nefesh of all involved as they bravely fought side-by-side with one goal, to bring the fires under control.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)