Haifa fire
Haifa fireReuters

Chief fire investigator Herzl Aharon told Channel 2, "When I don't know, I say I don't know. I'm not embarrassed - even 'I don't know' is an answer."

"We still don't know anything, I wish I had a direction. I go to a place and get an insight - and then I go to another place and everything changes. This is what you call an illusion of topography, the bedlam of the mountainous region, and it is very difficult to investigate," Aharon explained.

Aharon also expressed doubt that the fires were actually arson. Although 29 of the 30 most serious fires are being treated as arson by the government, and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said half the fires were arsons, only 10 people are currently being held on charges related to Israel's recent arson intifada, and only two indictments have been filed, one of them for burning garbage.

Even more worrying is the fact that the Haifa and ZIchron Yaakov arsonists are still at large.

Israeli and international firefighters battled 1,773 blazes between November 18-26. Many of the fires started simultaneously, and the sun during that week was not strong enough to start true forest fires. Hamas, meanwhile, praised the arsonists, and several arsonists were caught in the act, some with Molotov cocktails. Additionally, bonfire setups were spotted in forests, indicating an area that was being prepared for an arson attack in the near future.