PM Netanyahu talked today with President of Russia Vladimir Putin, requesting aid in subduing the wave of fires currently raging across Israel.
Putin responded quickly to the PM’s request, saying that Russia would immediately send two giant Beriev Be-200 planes for extinguishing fires.
Netanyahu thanked Putin for the response and aid.
Additionally, Turkey offered this morning to send one of its large fire-extinguishing planes for support; Israel accepted the offer.
Netanyahu said that he valued the offer and aid from Turkey.
The countries that have dispatched aid so far are Greece, Italy, Croatia, Russia, Cyprus, and Turkey. The aid amounts to 10 planes.
Earlier, Minister of Interior Security Gilad Erdan spoke before members of the Greek and Cypriot airborne firefighting aid teams, thanking them.
“I am happy to see that the decision I made along with the PM to request airborne aid from neighboring countries is quickly coming to fruition. The aid from neighboring countries has come so quickly, which testifies to the depth of relations between those countries and Israel. Cooperation from the air will be a determining factor in subduing the fires, and I hope that we will indeed be able to subdue all the fires across Israel.”