By David Israel • August 20, 2026
Jerusalem, 20 August, 2026 (TPS-IL) — A Thursday morning fire at a Palestinian residential building in the Hebron area was caused by an electrical short circuit, according to an investigation by Israeli police and fire officials, contradicting claims that masked Israelis deliberately set the building ablaze.
No injuries were reported.
“I’ve been here for eight months, and I’ve seen people make unauthorized electrical connections, running cables from one building to another and using makeshift outlets. It’s not professionally installed. The electric company didn’t do it for them,” a police spokesperson told The Press Service of Israel.
It was not the first time Palestinians blamed on Israeli settlers fires that, after thorough police and fire department investigations, turned out to be the results of faulty electric systems.
The fire that broke out overnight between November 7 and 8, 2025, in a residential building in the Palestinian village of Khirbet Abu Falah near Binyamin was later determined to have been caused by an electrical short circuit, rather than arson as initially claimed by Palestinian sources, who reported suspected involvement by masked individuals. IDF troops and firefighters arrived at the scene, and several residents were evacuated for treatment after inhaling smoke. No criminal suspects were found.
The home of Bassam al-Nawaj in the Hebron-area village of Beit Amra, Aug. 20, 2026. Israeli investigators found that a short circuit caused a fire there that morning, contradicting his claim that Israelis deliberately set the house ablaze. Credit: Eytan Shalem/TPS-IL
An investigation by the security agencies officially determined that the fire that broke out on February 17, 2026, at a sheep pen in the area of as-Samu, was caused by an electrical malfunction. Fire investigators from the Fire and Rescue Authority and forensic investigators determined that an electrical fault ignited the tarpaulin sheets used to cover the sheep pen, and the fire quickly spread into the structure. As a result, about 75 sheep inside the pen died.
In that case, too, Palestinian sources claimed that the fire had been deliberately set by Israeli settlers, as part of what they described as a “price tag” attack. However, the professional investigation completely ruled out criminal or nationalist motives and determined that the fire originated from an electrical malfunction.
The sheep pen investigation also raised suspicions of an attempt to obstruct the inquiry. The owners of the pen initially claimed that the site was not connected to the electrical grid at all, but police investigators discovered that the main power cable had been deliberately disconnected shortly after the fire broke out, potentially compromising the findings of the investigation.
The Judea and Samaria District police said on Thursday that investigators found no traces of an accelerant at the scene of the fire in the village of Beit Amra.
The findings contradict an account given by Bassam al-Nawaj, a resident of the building, who told Palestinian Authority-run WAFA that five masked and armed Israelis burnt the home after smashing a window and throwing a flammable substance inside.
Police officers from the Hebron Station, together with a Judea and Samaria District forensic investigator and a Judea and Samaria Fire and Rescue fire investigator, examined the site after entering the area under Israel Defense Forces protection.
“We received the initial report at around 6:30 or 7 a.m. We sent a team of investigators, including a forensic investigator and a fire investigator from the Fire and Rescue Service. The fire investigator and the police forensic investigator examined the site and determined that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit,” Shimon Cohen, spokesperson for the Israel Police Judea Region, told The Press Service of Israel.
“They identified the source of the short circuit and the point where the fire started. They also found no traces of any accelerant at the scene,” Cohen added. “If someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail, there would normally be traces of an accelerant, whether from the bottle itself or from whatever was used to start the fire. There was nothing of the sort.”
Investigators also identified what they determined was the likely source of the electrical fault.
Police said there was no security footage available to independently establish who was present at the building when the fire began.
“People can make all kinds of claims, but ultimately, we have to rely on the factual findings at the scene,” Cohen told TPS-IL.
