Netanyahu: Arson or incitement to arson is terror

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said Thursday at an impromptu press conference that any act of arson or incitement to arson will be considered as terror, and that Israel will make every effort to lay its hands on those behind the current wave of terror and punish them to the full extent of the law. He added that he had ordered the government to bring to Israel the largest firefighting aircraft in the world, the 747 Supertanker, which can also carry out missions at night. The prime minister also expressed gratitude to the leaders of Italy, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey for sending firefighting assistance. Netanyahu made the comments after a meeting where he was updated by the police, the fire and rescue service, the Magen David Adom emergency medical service and the IDF on the efforts to extinguish the wildfires throughout the country.
Meanwhile, in another development, the Israel Prison Service and the IDF Military Police announced that the Damon and Carmel prisons in Haifa were being evacuated due to approaching wildfires.