Residents of the Israeli city of Haifa have been allowed to return to their homes after firefighters gained control of massive blazes.
About 80,000 people were evacuated as wildfires raged through parts of Israel's third largest city.
Israelis drive past a fire in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa. Photo: AFP
Several countries - including Cyprus, Russia, Italy, Croatia and Greece - sent help and equipment, including aircraft, to help tackle the blazes.
Several Palestinian fire crews joined the emergency effort. Their leader, Abdulatif Abu Amshah, said fires had no boundaries.
The fires followed a two-month drought and were fanned by strong winds in the north of the city.
Israeli police said they had arrested 12 people suspected of arson.
The government believed Palestinian activists may be responsible for starting the fires, which threatened homes on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Two Israelis watch as another tries to extinguish a bushfire with a hose from a rooftop. Photo: AFP
Police chief Roni Alsheich said if the fires were started deliberately it was "safe to assume ... it is politically-motivated''.
In 2010, 42 people died in a fire on Mount Carmel, just south of Haifa.
- BBC