On the night of August 17, dozens of Israeli fire service personnel continued to extinguish the fire in the vicinity of Jerusalem, Trend reports with reference to newsru.co.il.
According to the published information, as of the morning of August 17, firefighters' actions are concentrated in the area of the settlements of Beit Meir and Kaslon, as well as in the vicinity of the Eitanim hospital.
As previously reported, residents of Kibbutz Tsuba, as well as the villages of Ein Nakuba and Ein Rafa received permission to return to their homes, but the residents of Givat ha-Yaarim did not receive such permission, and preparations are continuing for the evacuation of residents of the village of Even Sapir.
Traffic on Highway 395 between Eshtaol and Tsuba is still blocked in both directions. The highway between Mevaseret Zion and Sataf is also closed to traffic in both directions.
Early on Tuesday morning, fire service planes took off again.
On the eve of the Israeli government appealed to several states with a request for emergency assistance in extinguishing fires. According to "Can Bet", the arrival of fire planes and helicopters from Greece, Cyprus, and Jordan is expected. Turkey will also send a plane to help Israeli firefighters.
The fire brigade notes that in the last hours the wind speed has noticeably decreased and the level of humidity has increased, which helps to fight the fire.
At the same time, the head of the fire department Dadi Simhi said that it will take several more days to extinguish the fires. A general mobilization of fire service personnel from all districts of Israel has been announced.
Police forces are also on high alert.