Greece sends two firefighting aircraft to help put out Israel's wildfires

Greece responded immediately to Israel's request for assistance in fighting the major forest wildfires that have been raging in Israel since Thursday, resulting in one person's death and the evacuation of approximately 3,500 residences.

A Canadair firefighting aircraft took off from Elefsina airport on Friday morning while another is scheduled to depart during the day to participate in the operations underway to get the blazes under control.

According to the general secretariat for civil protection, the Greek aircraft are expected to join the fire-fighting operations in Israel in the afternoon.
Israel's request to Greece for assistance was sent to the Greek foreign ministry on Thursday, in the context of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. The fires in Israel have quickly blazed out of control due to very high temperatures and strong winds in the region at this time.