Netanyahu thanks foreign governments for helping Israel tackle wildfires

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday thanked foreign governments which had helped tackle the wildfires in the centre of the country. Croatia, Cyprus, Greece and Italy sent firefighting planes, while Egypt, one of only two Arab governments that have signed a peace treaty with Israel, sent two helicopters.

Israel remained on high alert on Friday after wildfires fed by tinder-dry conditions destroyed around 40 homes. There were no reports of casualties from Thursday's fires as the emergency services evacuated homes in the path of the blaze.

Several roads across the danger zone in central Israel remained closed for fear that the fires would reignite amid the unseasonable heat. Temperatures have topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across much of the country for several days. In 2016, wildfires damaged or destroyed around 700 homes in Israel and the occupied West Bank, and sent more than 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) of woodland up in smoke.