Arabs from villages near the town of Elon Moreh set a fire on Saturday afternoon that quickly spread towards the town and was stopped by numerous volunteers and official forces that arrived at the scene.
In the fire, a lookout established recently in memory of the soldier Amichay Yaacov Vanino, from the Maglan special forces unit, killed in action on October 7th, was destroyed.
Noam Nevo, a resident of the settlement, told Arutz Sheva - Israel National News: "Unfortunately, like every year, we witness deliberate arson of the areas around the towns in Judea and Samaria. Just last Saturday, there were several arson attacks in the region. Around 14:00 we saw a large fire west of the settlement. We alerted firefighting forces and deployed drones to get a situational assessement. We saw a long fire line moving towards the settlement from the west."
He added that "Firefighting forces, the civilian emergency squad, and farm residents from the entire region arrived at the place with equipment suitable for extinguishing such fires. The fire reached not far from the residents' houses, but an intensive operation that they underwent from point to point for hours and simply fought the fire led to its end without any casualties. Unfortunately, the lookout commemorating Amichay was completely burned and we could not save it. I am sure that with the help of good people, the lookout will return and be rebuilt".
Yedidyah Greenwald, a close friend of Amichay, added: "Amichay was a student at the yeshiva in Elon Moreh. He was killed while trying to rescue his commander who was hit by terrorist fire. Benayah, his brother, also studies at the yeshiva in Elon Moreh".
He reported that "Together with friends from the yeshiva, they established this lookout several months ago in memory of Amichay. It's the first lookout out of several that the family is establishing in his memory. Just a week ago, solar lighting was installed at the lookout in Elon Moreh, which will allow enjoyment of it also in the evening and night hours. It hurts to see how the Arabs are trying to harm us in every possible way, but we will also win this battle, and there will be here a larger and more beautiful lookout, I am sure of that."