11:59am Investigators will examine if a blaze that began to threaten the community of Yitzhar was arson.

The fire broke out in an open field between Yitzhar and Hawarwa at around 11am, and quickly reached the caravans at the edge of the town.

Volunteer firefighters as well as Jerusalem and PA firefighters worked to put out the large fire, and managed to get in under control just before 12pm.

Police considered evacuating the buildings in which there was danger to life. No one was injured in the fire.

Residents of Yitzhar claim that Arabs started the blaze that left behind a lot of scorched earth.

Israel Police are investigating the cause of an explosion at a Yellow Paz gas station Sunday night (October 12) in a residential Jerusalem neighborhood.

Three people were lightly wounded in the incident, which took place on a quiet, tree-lined street in an older, well-established part of the city.

The explosion sent flames shooting into the air at the gas station, located on Shivtei Israel Street. Fire fighters quickly got the blaze under control, and immediately shut down the gas and electricity lines.

Israel Police and special fire investigators have begun probing the cause of the explosion, which caused major damage to the facility. Arson has not been ruled out.

Early this morning (Tuesday, October 14) an explosion at a second gas station was reported at the Tzemach Junction on Route 90 just outside the southwestern outskirts of Jerusalem, in the direction of the Dead Sea, according to the Hebrew-language news website Rotter.net. There were no reports of injuries.

Police discovered before dawn Saturday morning, the day after Rosh HaShanah, that the car of a synagogue leader was engulfed in flames, but fire official immediately discounted suspicion of arson.

The car belonged to David Kushner, who serves as spiritual leader of the southern New Jersey synagogue though he is not an ordained rabbi. Kushner, who runs a wedding hall in Lakewood, N.J., learned about the fire when he showed up for Sabbath services the next morning.

The fire caused severe damage to the parking lot and the outer walls of the Orthodox Rodef Shalom synagogue, according to the Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia.

“The car had been towed overnight immediately after the incident by the Fire Department for further investigation, so I saw charred remains,” Kushner told the Jewish Exponent, which quoted Kushner as saying that firemen were examining whether the blaze was a hate crime.

The Atlantic City Press reported that fire chief Dennis Brook said, “There’s nothing that’s standing out. Car fires are car fires.”

Medical equipment inside was destroyed, and there were some explosions from oxygen tanks inside the vehicle.

At the risk of looking for anti-Semitism behind every theft or fire of Jewish property, isn’t it kind of strange that a fire chief would say that a parked car suddenly would burst into flames?

Or did the sound of the shofar set off sparks in the car battery?

“Given the fact that it happened on the synagogue property, on … the high holidays, leaves a lot of room for suspicion,” said Kushner.

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) regional director Nancy Baron-Baer, the told the Jewish Exponent, “The fact that in America in 2014, a rabbi’s car parked at his synagogue during Rosh Hashanah services could be engulfed in flames and the subject of arson is beyond comprehension.”

The Atlantic City Press noted that there is no history of anti-Semitic incidents at Rodef Shalom.

JTA contributed to this report.

Arabs lit up the entrance to Beit El last night, burning tires and whatnot, as part of their latest Initifada and celebration of Hamas rocket attacks.

Dozens of firefighting crews and six helicopters are battling wind-whipped fires in the Greater Jerusalem area, and Highway 1, connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, has been closed to trucks and other heavy vehicles near the western entrance of the capital.

No injuries have been reported, but at least three homes have sustained damage.

One of the fires broke out in a plastics factory. Last week’s huge inferno that firefighters prevented from spreading to Yad VaShem broke out because of carelessness and was not an act of arson by Arabs.

Two  fires in the hills of Jerusalem, south and southwest of the city, threatens homes in the communities of Even Sapir, where the plastics factory is located, Moshe Oar and Amanda, near Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. All employees were evacuated form the factory.

The road to Hadassah Hospital also was closed.

A smaller fire broke out near Tzur Hadassah, located in western Gush Etzion and less than a mile from the Haredi city of Beitar Illit.

Fire officials said that firefighting crews are close to bringing the blazes under control.

On Saturday evening, a rocket launched from Gaza hit a paint factory in Sderot’s industrial zone, causing a massive fire.

The paint storage containers inside the building exploded.

The factory was burnt to the ground.

There are 10 firefighter crews fighting the fire, and firefighters have been called in from Ashkelon and Be’er Sheva to help the Sderot fire department put the fire out, which is still blazing.

Four people who were inside the factory were rescued or managed to escape, and firefighters are checking to see if anyone else is trapped inside.

According to MDA, one man was lightly burned on his hands, a second suffered minor injuries to his body, and a third has a leg injury. All were taken to Barzilai hospital.

A second rocket landed in an open area outside the city.

A Gazan Rocket hit a factory in Sderot, causing a massive fire.

Two wind-whipped brushfires in forests near Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital Wednesday afternoon forced the evacuation of hundreds of people and  threaten to engulf  the Yad VaShem Holocaust Memorial Center and Museum, located on the nearby hill of Mt. Herzl.

At least six planes and more than two dozen crews of firefighters on the ground are battling the fire, which has engulfed some houses in the Ein Kerem area . The blaze has forced the evacuation of other families as well as workers and visitors at Yad VaShem and the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood, where homes already have suffered heavy smoke damage.

Light rail service to Mr. Herzl has been suspended, streets have been closed, and traffic was temporarily suspended in both directions on Highway 1, the major artery linking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Police also have closed off part the alternate Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem road, highway 443.

Firefighters in Judea and Samaria rushed to the capital to join the battle to contain the inferno.

Families who were forced to flee their homes in Ein Kerem have been evacuated to the Malcha office and commercial complex in southern Jerusalem. A second fire is burning out of control in the nearby Nataf neighborhood, where families have been evacuated to a moshav.

Several people have been treated for smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, but several previous blazes in the area have been set intentionally by Arabs.