Plane from Cyprus arrives in Israel
Plane from Cyprus arrives in IsraelIDF Spokesperson's Unit

A delegation from Cyprus landed at the Tel-Nof Base on Friday. The delegation included firefighting planes which arrived in order to assist the effort to extinguish the fires.

During the day, delegations from a number of additional countries also landed at the base, said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

Several fires have broken out in Israel over the past 24 hours as an extreme heat wave continues. At least two of the were caused by an issue in the Israel Electric Company's cables, Israel's Fire and Rescue Authority said.

Highway 44, which was closed for nearly a day due to fires, has been reopened.

During the afternoon, a brush fire broke out to the west of the town of Negohot, in the south Hevron hills, forcing the evacuation of one of the neighborhoods.

Nine people suffered light injuries due to smoke inhalation, and one of them was transferred to the Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva. Firefighting teams succeeded in extinguishing the flames after two hours.

Another brush fire, near the Elias Junction and the towns of Beit Aryeh and Peduel, forced the closure of Highway 60 in both directions.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)