Roads Shut at Jit and Kedumim as the Havat Gilad Fire Burns On

Firefighting at Havat Gilad in the northern West Bank was still going on late into the evening, alongside a large police operation, according to a statement issued by the Israel Police on 18 July 2026. Several people had been evacuated with light injuries and one with moderate injuries, the statement said.

An investigation team made up of detectives from the Judea and Samaria District - the police district covering the West Bank - together with the Israel Fire and Rescue Services and what the statement called security elements, was working to establish the circumstances. Fire investigators from the district, the fire service's own Judea and Samaria district and the Israeli military had begun looking into how the fire broke out. Police said their operation included a helicopter from the force's aerial unit and the district's drone unit, the blocking of roads in the area, the keeping open of emergency routes and the maintenance of public order, with officers closing the junctions at Jit, Kedumim and Yitzhar to prevent danger to road users. An inter-organisational situation assessment involving commanders and representatives of all the bodies concerned had concluded shortly before the statement was issued, with areas of responsibility assigned for completing the investigation and protecting public safety.

Where the fire was burning

Havat Gilad, sometimes rendered as Gilad Farm, lies in the hills of the northern West Bank about a kilometre from the settlement of Kedumim and within the ring of Israeli communities around the Palestinian city of Nablus. It began in 2002 as an unauthorised outpost, was dismantled and rebuilt several times, and was granted official status by the Israeli government in February 2018. The junctions the police closed - Jit, Kedumim and Yitzhar - sit on the road network west and south of Nablus.

A hard season for Israel's fire service

Recent fire seasons have been severe. Fires that broke out on 30 April 2025 in more than 100 locations across the Judaean hills near Jerusalem burned about 25 square kilometres, forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people and injured at least 45; Israel deployed 163 firefighting squads and 12 aircraft that day. Times of Israel coverage as it happened recorded ten communities evacuated west of Jerusalem, drivers abandoning their cars on Route 1, and firefighting aircraft pledged by Spain, France, Romania, Ukraine and Croatia.

The service fighting those fires is thinly stretched. In June 2025 the Jerusalem Post reported that Israel's Fire and Rescue Authority employed about 4,000 people, of whom some 2,100 actively fight fires, giving roughly one firefighter per 4,000 residents against an international benchmark of one per 1,000. Officials quoted in that report said the authority needed roughly twice the budget it receives, and noted that more than 2,500 hectares of land had burned during 2025.

What the statement did not say

The police did not say how the fire started, whether arson was suspected, or how large an area was burning. It gave no figure for the number of people evacuated or injured beyond "several" with light injuries and one moderate, did not say whether any homes or businesses were damaged, and did not say how long the road closures were expected to last. It also did not say whether the investigation had produced any suspects.