“This is the biggest natural disaster since the establishment of Israel and something which will take years to repair,” says Shali Ben Yishai, director of the Northern Region of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund.
Etgar Lefkovits
(JNS)
BIRIYA FOREST, Israel—More than 30,000 acres of land have been burned in northern Israel as a direct result of Hezbollah missile attacks since the war against Hamas began following the terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, including some 6,000 acres of forest area, in the largest such natural disaster since the creation of the modern-day state in 1948, Israeli forestry officials said on Wednesday.
The landscape damage has been caused by thousands of missiles fired by the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror organization at Israel since Oct. 8, one day after the massacre in southern Israel. The vast majority of projectiles have been intercepted by Israeli missile-defense systems, though falling debris from the explosives has triggered wildfires in the dry summer months when the earth is parched.
“This is the biggest natural disaster since the establishment of the State of Israel and something which will take years to repair,” Shali Ben Yishai, director of the Northern Region of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) told JNS during a media tour of this forest just abutting the northern Israeli city of Safed, known for its mysticism.
In the first six months of the attacks, the earth—still wet from the winter rains—was able to absorb the damage. But once the dry season began in the spring, every projectile or intercept caused a conflagration, the forestry officials said.
“From May, every missile attack is 100% a mine of fire,” said Eli Hafuta, KKL-JNF Upper Galilee and Golan regional director.
He noted that on one day, dozens of epicenters of fires could break out, while even the smallest blaze can take three days to extinguish during the hot weather.
“The result is that we are constantly on standby,” he said.
Their firefighting team, which works in unison with the National Fire and Rescue Authority that comes to extinguish the flames, has stopped all routine work since the war began and is using state-of-the-art thermal cameras and drones to assist them in combating the blazes.
As the war against Hamas enters its 10th month, tens of thousands of Israelis from northern Israel remain evacuated from their homes with daily Hezbollah attacks still unabated.
A lethal missile attack on Tuesday killed an Israeli couple on the Golan Heights, leaving their three children orphans.
‘The forest is important to us’
The largest planted forest in the Galilee—on the slopes descending east from Tzfat to Rosh Pina and Hatzor—Biriya is replete with groves, springs, an ancient synagogue, a lime pit, revered tombs, diverse flora, hiking trails and scenic lookouts.
In addition to the damage to the lush flora, which has been the site of a recent major blaze, the war has caused significant harm to wildlife, including bird populations, where chicks that cannot yet fly are burned in their nests.
“We have seen a lot of damage to bird nests, which have lost their whole generations of offspring as a result of the fire,” said Yaron Charka, KKL-JNF Chief Ornithologist.
He noted a recently published study that revealed that greater spotted eagles changed their migration in the wake of the war in Ukraine and said a similar trend can be expected in the region if there is a major war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Every missile attack is 100% a mine of fire.”
Eli Hafuta, KKL-JNF Upper Galilee and Golan regional director
Although previous bursts of violence with Hezbollah, including the month-long Second Lebanon War in 2006, had seen damage to the landscape in northern Israel, the extent of the current war triggered by the Hamas massacre is unprecedented in the 123-year-old history of KKL-JNF, according to the agency. Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered on Oct. 7, with thousands more wounded and as many as 250 others taken captive into the Gaza Strip. To date, an estimated 120 are still being held by Hamas, some living and some confirmed dead.
KKL-JNF was established by the Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl in 1901 to buy and develop land for Jewish settlement. It serves as the Jewish people’s custodian for about 15% of land in the nation but is best known for the hundreds of millions of trees it has planted throughout Israel.
“Regrettably, we have much experience from past wars, only this time, the damage is much more destructive,” said Eitan Lebel, manager of the Bat Yaar Ranch who serves as head of his community’s emergency response team and volunteers with the KKL-JNF firefighting team.
“We live in the forest, and the forest is important to us,” he said, noting that a 58-year-old, non-Jewish American from Los Angeles recently spent days volunteering at his temporarily shuttered range up north.
“Our mission is just beginning,” Ben Yishai said. “We need to bring all the green back to the north of Israel.”
Featured Image: A charred section of the Biriya Forest in northern Israel as a result of projectiles launched by Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, July 2024. Credit: Michael Huri/KKL-JNF.
