A forest fire that killed 41 people in northern Israel's Carmel region has been extinguished, Israeli police said today.
Efforts to beat down the blaze, which broke out last Thursday, were helped by overnight rains, a rarity in what has been an especially parched winter for Israel.
"All of the fires were officially extinguished as of midnight," police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.
An Evergreen 747 supertanker, the world’s biggest firefighting plane, dropped more than 40 tonnes of fire-retardant chemicals over the Mount Carmel area. By early evening yesterday, firefighting crews were extinguishing the last small fires.
The international effort included aircraft and firefighters from at least 10 countries, including Turkey, whose diplomatic relations with Israel have been strained since the flotilla attack six months ago, and the Palestinian Authority.
Two brothers, aged 14 and 15, from the Druze village of Isfiya were arrested on Saturday suspected of causing the fires through negligence following a family picnic. Their father said they were innocent.
At yesterday’s cabinet meeting, Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, announced a €12.5 million aid package, including mobile homes.
Reuters/Guardian Service