"It is possible to grow almost anything in the Negev," Moskowitz said. "Every year, about 100 million cubic meters of purified water are dumped into the sea instead of being diverted to the Negev. This is negligence. If we continue at this rate, we will become like Iran, a country suffering from ongoing drought with no solutions. Action must be taken now, not five years from now."

Moskowitz emphasized that the Negev is Israel's agricultural future, pointing to tens of thousands of unused acres, particularly in the Ramat Negev region, which could secure agricultural independence and ensure affordable food prices for consumers.

He criticized state policies over the past decade, arguing that government reliance on cheap imports had failed to reduce the cost of living. "The traders buy cheaply and sell at high prices, the state has no control, and the consumer ends up paying," he said. "After October 7, we all understood that food security cannot rely on imports. It must be based on local production."

The veteran agricultural leader insisted that food prices could be lowered significantly if the government expanded domestic production. "If we increase agricultural production in Israel, prices will fall. Today there are enormous brokerage gaps. The state must provide a safety net for farmers and consumers, just as Western countries do. That is the key to lowering prices, not imports and illusions."

Moskowitz concluded, "Israel has an opportunity to make the Negev the future of its agriculture. If we look after ourselves, we will secure food security for generations to come. If we continue to ignore the problem, we will find ourselves with empty shelves."

The Israel Agriculture Conference 2025 will take place September 2–4 at the Brown Hotel in Jerusalem. This year, the event will focus on the cost of living and the question of why life in Israel is so expensive, and how the country can ensure food security for its citizens.

The conference is being organized in cooperation with the Agriculture Ministry, the Regional Government Center, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), the Moshav Movement, the Kibbutz Movement, the KANAT Insurance Fund, and the Ramat Negev Regional Council.

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Zimbabwe has ordered the culling of 200 elephants as the country grapples with an unprecedented drought leading to food shortages, according to a report by The Guardian. The government claims this move is necessary to manage the country's burgeoning elephant population.

Sithembiso Nyoni, Zimbabwe's environment minister, told Voice of America that the country has "more elephants than it needed." The government has instructed the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) to begin the culling process in areas where elephants have clashed with humans, including Hwange, home to Zimbabwe's largest natural reserve.

Fulton Mangwanya, director general of ZimParks, explained that the 200 elephants would be hunted in conflict-prone areas. Zimbabwe is home to an estimated 100,000 elephants, the second-largest population globally after Botswana. Conservation efforts have led to Hwange housing 65,000 elephants, more than four times its capacity, according to ZimParks.

The decision comes as Zimbabwe, along with other southern African countries, faces severe drought conditions. Approximately 42% of Zimbabweans live in poverty, based on UN estimates, and authorities predict that about 6 million people will require food assistance during the upcoming lean season from November to March.

Minister Nyoni outlined plans for the culled elephants, stating, "We are having a discussion with ZimParks and some communities to do like what Namibia has done, so that we can cull the elephants and mobilize the women to maybe dry the meat, package it, and ensure that it gets to some communities that need the protein."

However, the decision has faced criticism from some quarters. Farai Maguwu, director of the nonprofit Centre for Natural Resource Governance, argued, "Government must have more sustainable eco-friendly methods to dealing with drought without affecting tourism." He warned that the cull "risk[s] turning away tourists on ethical grounds. The elephants are more profitable alive than dead."

Conversely, Chris Brown, CEO of the Namibian Chamber of Environment, defended the cull, saying elephants have a "devastating effect on habitat if they are allowed to increase continually, exponentially." He added, "They really damage ecosystems and habitats, and they have a huge impact on other species which are less iconic and therefore matter less in the eyes of the Eurocentric, urban armchair conservation people."

Zimbabwe last culled elephants in 1988. The current decision follows Namibia's recent announcement of culling over 700 wildlife animals, including 83 elephants, to cope with its worst drought in decades.

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More than 25,000 dunams (over 6,100 acres) of woodlands consumed by fires; thousands of residents evacuated from their homes – including dozens of patients and staff at the Eitanim psychiatric hospital; thousands of dead and wounded animals; damages to homes and farms. That is just the initial estimate of the damage caused by the massive forest fire in the Jerusalem hills this week.

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Fire and Rescue Service Commissioner David Simchi said the fire was of the same dimensions as the 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire disaster, and the fact that there was no loss of life this time around was a major achievement. But many argue that the writing was on the wall, and raise several difficult questions regarding the preparedness of the fire and rescue services, the shortfall in personnel, the skills possessed by the fire fighters, the availability of firefighting planes, and the conduct of the fire service senior echelons.

"In the final outcome all the billions spent by the state of Israel on the firefighting service since the Mount Carmel disaster did not have the required effect," says L., a senior firefighter from the Jerusalem District who took part in the firefighting efforts this week. "Planes and a few new fire trucks can't be the game changer in the face of fires of that scale. The fire service needs at least twice as much manpower than it currently has, otherwise we can't deal with fires like this quickly and efficiently.

"The top brass says that there are 2,200 active firefighters. We need at least 5,000. Fixing the damages caused by these fires costs a lot more than 2,500 firefighters."

Q: What do you think was wrong with the way this week's fires were handled?

"In the evening hours of Sunday, the first day of the fires, the commissioner declared that the fire was under control, despite weather conditions that pointed to the event being far from over. He made a mistake in his situational evaluation.

"At night the fires die down because there are no winds, but in the morning, I and others involved, including personnel from the firefighting plane squadron, requested that all the planes be sent up, not just some of them, but the commissioner refused. In the afternoon the winds picked up and the fires renewed. The forces on the ground were exhausted and there were only a few planes in the air - and then they called for more forces and even spoke about international aid.

"When additional forces arrived there as chaos on the ground, Firefighters got lost and it was a miracle that a disaster didn't happen. In events like that it is the police that are in charge, but the commissioner refused to sit with them in the command and control center so we end up with two command and control centers, one for the fire service and the other for the police. Things just got messier.

"In my opinion, the reason for all of that was a mistaken situational evaluation and misunderstanding of the weather conditions. The area was split up into six sectors, and four of them were given to firefighting officers who came from the army and don't have any knowledge of firefighting. The most difficult sector, around Kibbutz Tzuba, was given to the commander of the firefighters training college, an infantry officer, who came to the fire service about a year ago from the army.

"It's about time that events like these undergo an investigation by external professionals who have no interest in a cover-up. The inquiries regarding previous disasters such as the fires in Nof HaGalil and Mevo Modiim don't reflect reality. Unfortunately, that's what's likely to happen this time around as well."

Those aren't the only claims about improper coordination between the fire service and the police. "On Monday, while the fire was burning out of control and residents were being evacuated from their homes, police and fire service representatives couldn't even decide in which command and control center they would sit," says a person in the fire service. "At the end of the day the two bodies set up two command and control centers, and low-level officers from each body were sent to meetings and situational assessments. Regional commanders, the police commissioner and the fire service commissioner didn't sit together to conduct a joint situational assessment, except for one occasion when the incident began, and even then, the only thing that interested them was how they were going to be photographed for the press.

"The result was a complete lack of coordination between the police and the fire service. The police said roads should be closed; the fire service wanted them kept open. The firefighting plane squadron wanted aircraft in the air; the fire service was opposed. There was no dialogue, commands coming down to the ground were contradictory, and meanwhile everything was burning.

There were also accusations of fighting between the various bodies over the role of the fire fighting plane squadron. Israel's aerial firefighting unit falls under the command of the Israel Police and is composed of members of the aerial unit of the Israel Police, the field unit of the National Fire and Rescue Authority, and civilian companies Elbit and Clear-Cut Aviation.

This complexity, say senior fire and rescue officials speaking off the record, leads to a clash of egos between the police and the fire service, and this often creates disputes and delays in getting planes in the air.

"Managing aerial operations is extremely complex," says chief superintendent  Tomer Brenner, the firefighting squadron commander. "There are a lot of different bodies involved that have to work together. Sometimes it works smoothly, sometimes things are more difficult. Sometimes people agree and sometimes they don't.

"I always try to make the best decision for the State of Israel. If we hadn't acted as we did during the fire, six communities would have been burned to the ground."

Q: What actions did you take?

"Our planes have a limited capacity to carry fire retardants, so it is best that they take off as soon as the fire is spotted. We received a report of a fire on Sunday at 3:15 p.m. via a civilian who reported it to the fire service. We were sent in by the fire service as part of a procedure called "liberal take-off." The procedure which was the result of the lessons of previous incidents, states that in areas where it will take fire trucks too long to get to the scene, planes can be sent up first.

"We sent up two planes, and I managed the incident from the command and control center. I opened the window and saw the cloud of smoke. The first report was that the fire was advancing at a pace of one kilometer every ten minutes due to weather conditions. The implications of this are a very complex event, and immediately sent up all the remaining places in the squadron, 12 altogether. The planes worked until nightfall."

A senior fire service source claims that the following morning the squadron wanted to send up all its planes, but the fire service commission believed there was no need to do so.

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"In the afternoon the fire grew very strong, and it was decided to use all the air power available in Israel. International aid was also considered. On Tuesday we went at the fire as quickly as possible and managed to gain control."

Q: Are there things you feel you should have done differently?

 "I would do a lot of things differently but I prefer to debrief them with the relevant professional authorities and not in the media."

Q: Are there plans to increase the size of the squadron so that you will be able to deal with large fires?

We are in the midst of a process of purchasing planes with a larger payload capacity. It's a very complex issue that depends on the state budget and other factors. The order is supposed to go out soon, but even then, it will take two years for the planes to arrive."

Failings in dealing with fires in Israel are nothing new. Only last month, senior former fire service officers, municipal chiefs, firefighters, safety experts, residents and volunteers   about a severe shortage of manpower and equipment, delays in operations of firefighting planes, misunderstanding of ground conditions, and an absence of operational plans. They all warned that, "it's a question of when, not if, a disaster will happen." Over and again, we heard the words: "Don't let anyone say they didn't know."

At the beginning of June, three large fires, apparently caused by arson, burned out of control in the Jerusalem Hills. The cost was heavy: Thousands of dunams of woodland were consumed by the fires and dozens of residents of nearby communities were evacuated.

Doron (not his real name), a firefighter from Jerusalem, was called to fires in Tzur Hadassah and Ma'aleh Hahamisha when they were already out of control. "The fire could have been doused within an hour," says Doron. "There was no need to reach a situation where teams from around the country had to be called in to fight the fire.

In my district, what happens on a regular basis is that the officer managing an incident conducts a situational assessment, asks for ten firefighting teams and then gets barely five, because someone is saving on budgets and there is a manpower shortage. You have to beg. At the fire in Har Haruach and Ma'aleh Hahamisha we asked for ten teams, but we got three. At a fire near Moshav Ora, it was a miracle that the moshav wasn't burnt down. We asked for firefighting planes and crews, but we didn't get them."

Q: Why does it take two hours for planes to get to the scene?

The fire service has an agreement with Elbit Systems, which operates the firefighting squadron and is paid per work hour and on call hours. Somebody gambled and let the pilots be on call from home rather than from the base so that it would cost less. If the pilots had been on call at the base, they would have got to the scene within 15 minutes."

The Carmel disaster in December 2010 was a turning point with respect to firefighting in Israel. The previously municipal fire departments were all brought under the Israel Fire and Rescue Authority Law and placed under the purview of the Public Security Ministry, and the fire and rescue designated a commissioner, giving him full operational authority.

The commission received large budgets and a firefighting squadron with 14 places each able to carry 3,000 liters of fire retardant. The planes are stationed at two permanent run strips: Meggido in the North and Kedma in the South. Last year they handled over 200 fires in open areas. According to the Fire and Rescue Authority, since the Carmel Disaster some 300 fire and rescue vehicles adaptable to all scenarios have been purchased.

In 2014, the Knesset drafted regulations covering the protection of communities from forest fires, however due to budgetary disagreements between various government offices, the ordinances have yet to be approved. In 2015, then-State Comptroller Joseph Shapira released a report on the preparations of municipal authorities for fires and weather-related hazards. Shapira wrote that the "existing infrastructure does not give any entity the authority to enforce upon local authorities' compliance with instructions regarding emergency situations including fires and extraordinary weather-related damages. The preparedness of local authorities for such situations depends on their desire to comply with given instructions and on the resources, they choose to allocate. Some local authorities are not prepared and are not properly prepared or equipped for fires."

The State Comptroller also issued a report in June of this year that painted a difficult picture regarding preparedness for fires in Israel: "Over 40,000 fires occur in Israel every year, on average 100 a day. There are 126 firefighting stations around the country; 1,641 firefighters and commanders man 72% of the operational standard. There is a shortage of 1,675 firefighters to reach the target set by the Authority."

Figures presented by the Fire and Rescue Authority show a slightly different picture with 2,200 fighters and 1,000 support personnel.

A report by the Knesset research center in September 2017 stated that Israel has 120 fire stations and is short 105 stations to reach the optimal number.

"To put it simply – there is no money," says Haim Rokach, head of the Golan Regional Council and head of safety and emergency preparedness at the Federation of Regional Councils. "We are supposed to create firebreaks, thin forests, place fire-fighting systems around communities, prepare fire trails, put in fire hydrants. It will cost millions.

"I'm not ashamed to say that I'm scared. A Technion report filed in 2012 at the request of the Ministry of the Interior found that the required response time of a fire truck is seven minutes, while the longest it should take is 15 minutes, but we don't meet those standards. We are simply being abandoned."

Yosef Ben Yosef, CEO of the Yavniel local council, left the fire service a year and half ago after 30 years. His last position was commander of the Tiberias fire station.

He says that the Carmel disaster caused positive shock waves in the fire service. "We were moved to the Ministry of Public Security; the firefighting squadron was established and so was an academy for training firefighters. I was part of a program to train firefighters in the French system called Forest Fire Defense, which includes five levels of training for commanders in command and control of fires in open ground and forests. The training was funded by the European Union. Several groups of firefighters, officers and commanders went through the program. A computerized firefighting system and a simulator were put into use, with technological adaptations made for local conditions.

"In 2017, when the new commissioner David Simchi took up his position, he claimed that isn't the way to teach and the program was stopped. But no other method has been introduced. So in one go, the professional issue and in particular the issue of firefighting programs was shunted aside. But the recent fires in the Jerusalem Hills prove that preparation is required: preparation of scenarios and action modes. You can't be responsive and just rely on luck.

Worse yet, the number of new people employed at headquarters is completely disproportionate to the number of firefighters. The State Comptroller noted that there are too many support staff and not enough firefighters. The new commissioner was uncomfortable with the worker's committee and decided to fight them. This led to a lack of trust between the command echelon and the operational level. When the firefighters don't believe in the commander, they don't do what they know how to do best – put out fires."

Yuval (not his real name) is the head of a fire station in the center of the country. He too believes that the shortcomings are a result of mismanagement of manpower. "At my station, and at other stations as well, the firefighters no longer receive overtime, even on days with extreme weather conditions when we need to beef up teams.

"The standard set by the United States Fire Administration (which is a professional beacon to fire authorities worldwide) is one firefighter per one thousand residents. According to this standard I should have 400 firefighters, but I have just 100. That means that I am working much of the time under the red line of minimal operational readiness. If there is a fire and I send teams, I am left exposed in the area I am responsible for.

"What's more, what happens to a firefighter when there is no overtime? His fighting spirit is low. The commissioner's fight against the firefighters really hit them hard and there is no lack of incidents where there were failures as a result."

The 2015 State Comptroller's report lists a series of steps to be taken by localities: preparation of buffer lines and perimeter access roads; maintenance of access roads to communities and maintenance of the main roads within them; peripheral water supply lines with fire hydrants 100 meters (328 feet) apart, a fire-fighting equipment stockpile in every locality, and more.

The report states: "The State Comptroller's Office believes that in view of the danger presented by fires to localities close to or within forests, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of the Interior, together with the Finance Ministry, the Federation of Local Authorities and the Federation of Regional Councils must act with haste to authorize ordinances to defend the localities against forest fires. Any delay in providing a defensive envelope for the localities and roads, and in establishing firefighting stockpiles could lead to loss of life and damage to property."

Alon Biton, the security officer of the Federation of Local Authorities, believes that the solution is to have one body that is responsible for the issue. "A government body operating under the Ministry of the Interior that will connect between the various government ministries and define their authority.  The goal is to approve and budget a master plan for fire readiness, especially with regard to buffer lines. To define security rings, decide what types of trees can be planted within each locality, and create national priorities for the localities depending on their degree of risk.

"After the fire in Nof HaGalil, we set up a pilot program to establish buffer lines according to the guidelines. I hope this will be followed up with practical steps, but without budgets it's all just talk. No local authority can afford those kinds of costs. I hope the new Knesset will find the required funds."

Keren Kayemet LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund [the body that administers Israel's forests] isn't waiting for the regulator to allocate budgets. "After the Carmel Disaster we established buffer lines between forests and communities next to forests in more than 400 sectors covering 30,000 dunams [7,400 acres]," says Gilad Ostrovsky, director of forestry at KKL-JNF. "In some places we also set up buffer lines within forests to prevent fires from spreading and enable access to fire and rescue service vehicles. We also brought in Beduin shepherds from the south to graze with their herds and get rid of the dry grasses that could become flammable materials.

"We have 24 of our own fire trucks operated by KKL-JNF employees. From the start of the fire season on May 1, we have lookouts watching over the forests to detect fires quickly. We are also building a master plan for all the forests which takes into account research on how fires behave differently in different places."

Q: Why isn't there a ban on lighting fires in forests?

"On days where we receive fire warnings from the meteorological service, we put out a notice to the public that it is forbidden to light fires in the forests. We have rangers on patrol, but we are talking about very large areas and we don't have the authority to give fines. We are working on a "Forest Law" that will give us the authority to give out fines. I hope we will manage to pass it in the current Knesset."

Simchi said in July that "what I have improved in the past four years hasn't been done in 40 years. We have added 500 new firefighters, including 80 from the Arab sector, and we have recruited Arab citizens to national service as firefighting support personnel.

"I set up a research and development division. One of the products of its work is the addition of chemical retardants to water which has made firefighting with water hoses much more efficient. A year ago, I put robots into use for life endangering missions, and we are shortly planning to launch a pilot program employing drones, UAVs and ground cameras to locate fires in real time.

"Our squadron operates, according to our operational concept, only in the summer season, and responds to fires by classification: saving lives, homes, and then nature. In high fire index situations, we put planes in the air to detect fires before they spread. In high-risk areas we put planes in the air before the fire trucks.

"The firefighting budget is NIS 1.4 billion [$432 million] per year, of which NIS 70 million [$22 million] is allocated to the firefighting squadron. I have to manage those resources. There is a limitation of flying hours. In situational assessments we look at whether there is a danger to a locality, and whether there is a need for the squadron elsewhere. I have to meet the cost-benefit test, and manage national risks."

The National Fire and Rescue Authority said in response: "We do not intend to address false allegations based on cheap gossip, at best, on behalf of self-interested parties driven by extraneous considerations. The development of firefighting in recent years has nothing to do with all of this. These allegations are part of repeated attempts to harm the senior fire service command, officers and firefighters, while purposely ignoring reality, and facts on the ground."

No response was available from the Israel Police.

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Iran said on Tuesday its security forces had arrested a network of agents working for Israel and had seized a cache of weapons it said were planned for use during recent unrest sparked by water shortages in the Islamic Republic, state media reported.

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Iran often accuses its enemies or rivals abroad, such as Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia, of trying to destabilize the country by stoking protests and violence.

Tuesday's announcement came after nearly two weeks of protests over water shortages, mostly in southwest Iran, which have turned political and spread to other areas.

Authorities have accused armed dissidents of provoking clashes during the street protests. Human rights groups say security forces have opened fire on protesters.

"Mossad operatives intended to use the equipment in urban riots and assassinations," an Intelligence Ministry official said, according to state media, referring to Israel's intelligence agency. The official did not give details.

The seized weapons included pistols, grenades, assault rifles and ammunition, the unnamed official said, adding: "Some of these are used to provoke clashes during protests."

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.

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Street protests broke out overnight over severe water shortages in Iran's oil-rich southwest, according to Iranian news outlets and videos posted on social media on Friday, as the country faces its worst drought in 50 years.

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Videos showed protesters setting fire to tires to block a road and security forces were seen trying to disperse the crowds as some shots were heard. Reuters could not independently verify the videos' authenticity.

"State television should report what we are saying and show the image of the buffaloes that perished from lack of water," an elderly protester said on a video carried by the regional Asrejonoob news website.

In May, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian warned of water shortages in the summer, saying this year was "one of the driest in 50 years."

Protests have erupted in the Khuzestan province of Iran over shortage of water.

Large crowds of protesters have taken to the streets in Ahvaz, the capital city of Iran's Khuzestan province. pic.twitter.com/glHPOR5QBN

— AVA TODAY (@ava_today) July 15, 2021

The water shortages have led to power blackouts and there were protest marches in several cities last week. During some protests, people vented their anger with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, chanting "Death to the dictator" and "Death to Khamenei."

In recent weeks, thousands of workers in Iran's key energy sector have held protests, seeking better wages and working conditions in southern gas fields and some refineries in big cities.

Iran's economy has tanked due to the impact of US sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nowhere in the Middle East has been hit harder by the virus than Iran.

Protests by workers and pensioners have been almost unrelenting for months, with discontent growing over an economy that is suffering inflation of more than 50%, high unemployment, with some workers complaining that their wages are not being paid.

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The water level of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel rose by half a centimeter on Monday, bringing the water level to 209.255 meters (686.53 feet) below sea level, the Water Authority reported.

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In March 2020, thanks to heavy winter rains, the lake reached its highest water level in 16 years.

The lake is now just 45.5 cm (18 inches) below upper Red Line, the point at which the water level poses a flood risk.

If the water reaches the upper Red Line, the Water Authority will have to open a dam at Kibbutz Degania to allow excess water to spill into the Jordan River.

In other water news, Israel announced on Sunday that 17 beaches had been declared safe for public use after being cleaned up following a massive tar spill off the Mediterranean coast last month.

A joint statement from the environmental protection, health, and interior ministries announced that the following beaches were safe to use: Acre's Argaman and Tmarim beaches; Ashdod's Lido, Oranim, Keshatot, Riviera beaches; Ashkelon's Delilah North, Delilah South, and Ashkelon National Park beaches;  Haifa's Bat Galim, Hof HaCarmel, and Dado Zamir beaches; Herzliya's Nof Yam and HaSharon beaches; and the Zikim beach in the Hof Ashkelon regional council.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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A day after the heaviest rainfall seen in coastal Israel in over a quarter century caused massive flooding and damage, the forecast called for more floods in the Jordan Valley, the Judean Desert, and Dead Sea areas on Friday.

Light rainfall was forecast for the coast throughout Friday night.

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Scattered showers were forecast for northern and central Israel on Saturday, too.

Thursday saw especially heavy rainfall in Tel Aviv and Hod Hasharon, the Ashdod-Ashkelon area, and Nahariya and the western Galilee. All of these areas saw over 100 millimeters (nearly 4 inches) of rain.

This November has seen considerably more rainfall than average, and for coastal Israel, it has been the rainiest November since 1994.

Some areas of Israel's coast have already seen over 40% of their average annual rainfall.

In related news, the Sea of Galilee is rising and as of Friday morning was up by 1.5 centimeters (0.59 inches), putting its upper level at 209.94 meters (688.7 feet) below sea level.

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Police reported that all residents of Kfar Oranim were being evacuated, and a few homes had caught fire. A squadron of four firefighting aircraft were also trying to douse the flames from the air.

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The fire, fueled by unusually hot, dry weather, was spreading toward Kfar Ruth and Lapid, and four teams of firefighters were deployed near those communities to prevent it from reaching the homes.

Watch: the fire near Moshav Margaliot 

Video: Lilach Shoval

The cause of the fire was under investigation, and officials were looking into a possible link between it and fires that were set overnight Thursday during riots and clashes between residents of Modi'in Illit and police forces who were trying to break up gatherings held against COVID public health regulations.

A total of 13 rioters were arrested, and many others were fined.

Firefighters from the Modi'in Illit station worked all night to put fires set by young protesters, while being pelted with rockets, bottles, and various other objects.

Also on Friday, a natural wildfire broke out in the village Umm al Kutuf in Wadi Ara. Firefighters and police were working to evacuate local residents, and firefighting aircraft were deployed.

At the end of an emergency meeting to assess the situation, Deputy Commander of the Menashe District Chief Supt. Rami Raz said, "This is a fire that originated in the local brush. Right now it is not under control, and we have started evacuating homes in the village. The police is asking the public to follow instructions and traffic changes, which are being shared via the media."

Other fires were reported in northern Israel in the Churchill Forest in Nof Hagalil and near the Eilut-Zippori intersection. Firefighting teams were battling those blazes, as well as a fifth that began near Moshav Margaliot on the northern border.

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The Israeli delegation, which includes rescue workers and experts in forest and brush fires, as well as Foreign Ministry representatives, is expected to spend some two weeks helping.

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The Foreign Ministry is organizing the team and is coordinating with US authorities via the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco. A representative of Israel's Fire and Rescue Services is leading the logistics and will direct the team at the fire sites themselves.

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said, "Israel's quick enlistment to help its friend the US is an expression of the deep friendship between the people and the excellent ties between the two countries in a wide variety of fields. I congratulate the members of the team and wish them success in their important mission."

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The deal encompasses three large-scale projects to build irrigation systems based on the model of community irrigation, supplying 66 villages and a 50,000-hectare (123,500 acre) area in Karnataka.

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Irrigation communities make it economically feasible to carry out comprehensive and large-scale infrastructure projects, allowing each farmer to benefit from a technologically advanced irrigation system that suits his needs.

"Especially in these days of global crisis, this new mega-deal in India represents a vote of confidence in Netafim, its solutions and accomplishments. The uniqueness of these projects is in their community model, which along with local government involvement enables a huge number of farmers and villages to improve their livelihoods. The Indian government has always been extremely supportive of the agricultural sector, and now more than ever this support is important for securing the economic stability of local farmers and food security in the country," said president and CEO of Netafim Gaby Miodownik.

"These projects deploy NetBeatTM systems for digital farming, which enables real-time control of the irrigation systems using cloud technologies and allows access from any mobile device. Netafim intends to expand the community irrigation project model to other countries characterized by a large number of small farmers," Miodownik said.

Netafim joined forces with India's Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) to deploy the projects over a two-year period, and supply technical and agronomic support for an additional five years.

Netafim will also train the farmers to operate the advanced systems. Crops planned for the area include onion, chili pepper, corn, peanuts, beans, and sunflowers.

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