Strong desert winds battered Israel today as they swept through the country from the Sahara.
Many trees were uprooted, power lines were brought down and fires broke out.
The sirocco, a dry, hot wind gusting to 80 kilometers an hour, had emergency services on alert in Tel Aviv where several houses caught fire in Kfar Chabad. Other fires were reported in Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
There were power outages in Sderot as a tree fell on power lines, and in Kiryat Gat, closing a road to traffic.