Wildfires due to extreme heat and winds broke out near Jerusalem on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of communities and the closure of a main highway, as the country was observing Memorial Day and many Israelis visited gravesites.

The main Route 1 Jerusalem to Tel Aviv highway was closed near the fire site and police said three communities had been evacuated.

“Based on assessments of the fire’s spread, the district commander has instructed teams to prepare for the potential evacuation of additional communities, including deploying buses in case they are needed,” the police said in a statement.

TV footage showed fires along the highway and people abandoning cars and running from the fires.

Israel’s Fire and Rescue service said on Tuesday that due to extreme conditions that were increasing the likelihood of fires spreading and developing, it had prohibited the lighting of bonfires through May 7.

Israel’s 77th Independence Day begins tonight and there is a widespread custom to build bonfires and have barbecues. The rescue service said barbecues should only be lit in authorised areas.

Israeli media reported that 120 fire and rescue services had mobilised dozens of firefighting teams, aircraft and helicopters to try to contain the fires. They noted that 12 people were injured from smoke inhalation while Israel has asked at least five countries for help – Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy and Cyprus.

The military’s chief of staff said he had ordered Home Front Command, the Air Force and all IDF units to assist as needed to support the Israeli Police and Fire and Rescue Services.

Search and Rescue forces from the IDF Search and Rescue Brigade and Air Force fire trucks have been assisting in efforts to extinguish the fires in the Jerusalem Hills area and evacuate residents.

Sirens sounded at 0800 GMT on Memorial Day to commemorate fallen soldiers in Israel’s many wars since becoming a state in 1948.

(Reuters)

Pakistan warned Wednesday that on the back of “credible intelligence” India may launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours as tensions between the two nations surged following a deadly attack last week in Indian-administered Kashmir.

In a statement posted on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Islamabad has “credible intelligence” that New Delhi is planning to take military action under the “pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement” in the April 22 attack by gunmen in the tourist resort of Pahalgam which killed 26 people.

“Pakistan reiterates that any such military adventurism by India would be responded to assuredly and decisively. The international community must remain alive to the reality that the onus of escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India,” he said.

New Delhi has stated the attack had Pakistan links but Islamabad has distanced itself from the attack, expressing concern and offering to cooperate with an independent inquiry into the incident.

As tensions increase, the two countries also shut border crossings, downgraded diplomatic ties and India has revoked visas for Pakistanis living in the country.

Pakistan’s defence minister said on Monday a military incursion by neighbouring India was imminent in the aftermath of a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir last week, as tensions rise between the two nuclear-armed nations, Reuters reported.

The attack killed 26 people and triggered outrage in Hindu-majority India, along with calls for action against Muslim-majority Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of backing militancy in Kashmir, a region both claim and have fought two wars over.

“We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken,” Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters in an interview at his office in Islamabad.

Asif said India’s rhetoric was ramping up and that Pakistan’s military had briefed the government on the possibility of an Indian attack. He did not go into further details on his reasons for thinking an incursion was imminent.

India’s foreign and defence ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment, read the report.

After the Kashmir attack, India said two suspected militants were Pakistani. Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue and punish the attackers.

Pakistan was on high alert but would only use its nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence,” said Asif, a veteran politician and outspoken member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, which has historically pursued peace talks with India.

The minister added that Islamabad had approached friendly countries, including Gulf states and China, and also briefed Britain, the United States and others on the situation, Reuters reported.

“Some of our friends in the Arabian Gulf have talked to both sides,” Asif said, without naming the countries.

China said on Monday it hoped for restraint and welcomed all measures to cool down the situation. Asif said the United States was thus far “staying away” from intervening in the matter.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week India and Pakistan would figure out relations between themselves, but the State Department later said Washington was in touch with both sides, urging them to work towards a “responsible solution”.

Washington has previously helped calm tensions between the two countries, which both gained independence in 1947 when a retreating British colonial administration partitioned the subcontinent into two states, read the report.

Delhi and Islamabad have taken a raft of measures against each other since the Kashmir attack. India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty – an important river-sharing pact. Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines.

Asif said it was an “act of war” to deprive vulnerable areas of water, and that the treaty, which has weathered past conflicts, was backed by international guarantors.

“We have already gone to relevant quarters as far this treaty is concerned,” he said, calling on the international community and the World Bank to protect the pact.

New Delhi has also accused Islamabad of backing the Islamist militants who had carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 166 people, including foreigners. Pakistan denies the accusations.