Fifty-nine residents of Haifa suffered light injuries Thursday morning after cars were set on fire in their buildings' parking lot.

The victims, who all suffered from smoke inhalation, live in two buildings on Haifa's Ahavat Yisrael Street.

Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics called to the scene treated the injured, who included many children, for smoke inhalation.

Fire investigators who arrived at the scene estimated that the fires had been set intentionally.

Senior MDA paramedic Ido Soroka said: "When we arrived at the scene, we saw fire and thick smoke in the building's parking lot, along with several vehicles which were burned. There was a lot of smoke and noise."

"Most of the residents, including many children, walked down on their own and were brought by their parents from the apartments, with their faces covered in soot, after they had inhaled smoke. Some of the residents needed to be evacuated. We did triage at the scene and large numbers of MDA professionals treated the victims, who received oxygen, and transferred them to hospitals in light condition."