An estimated 17,000 people had been forced to flee their homes in northern Israel by Friday morning, as the worst bushfire in Israel's history entered its second day, leaving 40 dead, DPA reported.
The blaze had destroyed more than 20 square kilometres of land and was still not under control, after breaking out before noon Thursday on the slopes of Carmel Hill, south-east of the northern port city of Haifa, Israel's third-largest city.
Strong winds were pushing the flames westwards and in the direction of the Haifa outskirt of Denya. Firefighters were trying to prevent it from reaching the neighbourhood, as well as from crossing route number 4, which runs at the foot of the Carmel hill from Haifa southbound toward Tel Aviv and separates villages along the coast from the blaze.
It was still unclear Friday morning whether the fire was the result of an accident or an act of arson. An extreme-right lawmaker, Yaakov Katz of the National Union, was quick Thursday to blame Arabs of lighting the fire as an alleged terrorist attack.
Fire and rescue chiefs told reporters that as dawn broke at least 100 vehicles and at least four planes - which could not be deployed in the dark - were now being used in the effort.
Foreign firefighting aircraft began landing at the Ramat David military airport in northern Israel, with four planes from Greece, and a Hercules from Bulgaria with some 150 firefighters on board, already on the ground.
Around 20 more from other countries including Turkey, Cyprus and Spain were expected to join throughout the day.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said additional assistance was also on its way from Britain, Russia, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Romania and Jordan, and the United States was sending a Boeing 747 with fire- retardant chemicals.
Some 36 of the 40 fatalities were prison service cadets, sent to help evacuate prisoners from a jail in the path of the flames, whose bus was engulfed by the inferno.
They had been on their way to help with the successful evacuation of some 900 prisoners from the Carmel and Damon prisons, both in the area and the latter of which includes Palestinians jailed for security offences and illegal entry into Israel.
The other four dead were two police officers, one volunteer fireman, and a civilian.
Among three people in critical condition in Haifa's Rambam hospital was Haifa Assistant Police Commander Ahuva Tomer, caught on camera minutes before her unit got caught up by the flames as she helped oversee the rescue effort in the Carmel Forest.
Haifa's mayor ordered the evacuation of several streets in the city's most south-eastern neighbourhood of Denya.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting the area late Thursday, described the fire as "a catastrophe, the likes of which we have not yet known."
"We've lost control of the fire," a spokesman for Haifa's firefighting services said Thursday evening.
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said it was impossible to say when the fire would be contained.
Lieberman said it was likely to take days before the fire would be fully extinguished but hoped that by late Saturday most focal points would be under control.
He told Israel Radio that Israel had turned to Germany for help, which in turn had asked Turkey for assistance, prompting Ankara to send two planes - despite its marred relations with Israel.
In Washington, US President Barack Obama offered condolences to the families of those who had been killed.
"As rescuers and firefighters continue in their work, the United States is acting to help our Israeli friends respond to the disaster," he told a gathering of US Jewish leaders at the White House for a Hanukkah celebration.
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