Firefighters battle flames in northern Israel during intense summer heat

Israeli firefighters battled multiple wildfires across northern Israel over the weekend as extreme heat and dry conditions fueled rapidly spreading flames, forcing evacuations and threatening homes in the Galilee and Jezreel Valley.

The fires are the latest in a series of major summer blazes that have challenged Israel's emergency services in recent years, with prolonged heat, dry vegetation and, at times, human activity or security-related incidents contributing to increasingly destructive wildfire seasons.

Two Israeli communities in the north were evacuated on Saturday after flames drew dangerously close to residential areas. Several homes in Havat Gilad, west of Nablus, were engulfed in flames, along with nearby wooded areas.

Firefighting crews battled for hours to bring the blaze under control with assistance from firefighting aircraft, police units and the Israel Defense Forces.

In a joint statement, the agencies said the fire most likely originated near the community of Kedumim. Although arson has not been ruled out, an initial investigation concluded that the fire was likely sparked when a cigarette butt was thrown from a passing vehicle into dry roadside vegetation.

Police said they are working to identify the vehicle's owner, noting that authorities have repeatedly warned the public that the current hot and dry conditions make even small ignition sources capable of starting major fires.

In a separate incident, the community of Shimshit in the Jezreel Valley was also threatened by a large brush fire over the weekend, prompting the evacuation of several homes.

Israel has experienced a series of major wildfires in recent years as rising summer temperatures and below-average rainfall have created increasingly favorable conditions for large fires.

Arson was suspected in devastating fires in and around the Jerusalem Hills during the summer of 2025. A year earlier, massive fires in the Galilee were ignited by Hezbollah rockets and drones landing in "uninhabited areas" filled with highly combustible vegetation.

Those fires destroyed thousands of dunams of agricultural land as well as forests, homes, outbuildings and vehicles.

The deadly Mount Carmel forest fire in 2010, which claimed 44 lives and required international assistance to extinguish, prompted a major expansion of Israel's Fire and Rescue Service through increased funding, equipment, training and infrastructure.

However, critics argue that the growing wildfire threat exceeds the service's capacity to respond on its own, leading many communities to establish volunteer firefighting units. This has been particularly important in the Galilee and in communities near the Gaza border, where farmers have previously faced fires started by incendiary balloons and kites launched by terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

Several nonprofit organizations operating in Israel have also incorporated firefighting support into their community assistance programs.

Daniel Kirchhevel, chief operating officer of Bridges for Peace, said the organization supports the Lehava Unit of Israel's Fire and Rescue Service.

"We support the Lehava Unit of Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service," Kirchhevel told ALL ISRAEL NEWS. "We purchase equipment for them so that they can do their jobs more effectively."

He added that "They’re also asking us for help to construct a new training center... We’re going to continue supporting them and we are asking our supporters to pray for this urgently needed project."