Fire damages expected to cost Israel at least $515m to be among the costliest in Israel

The damages caused in the spate of fires that plagued Israel last week are expected to be among the costliest in Israel's history, with unofficial estimates putting it at around NIS 2 billion (about 515 million dollars) at least, according to Ynet. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon have declared that most of the recent blazes were caused as a result of nationalistically-motivated arson. 

If the fires are indeed recognized as acts of terrorism, the state would have to carry the onus of compensating citizens for damages incurred, rather than the insurance companies. 

Legally, recognizing an incident as an act of terrorism can only be done by one of the branches of the security establishment, based on their investigation. But the prime minister, the defense minister, the public security minister and the government can all also declare an incident to be an act of terror or war.

Source: MENA