As wildfires swept through the Jerusalem hills and a national emergency was declared, Israel on Wednesday observed its annual Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror with nationwide sirens, official ceremonies, and moments of silence.

Hamas posted a message on Telegram on Wednesday afternoon urging Palestinians in Jerusalem and elsewhere to “burn whatever you can of groves, forests, cars, and settler homes,” to seek “revenge” for Gaza.

At 8 pm on Tuesday evening, a minute-long siren sounded across Israel, signaling the beginning of Yom HaZikaron, which commemorates soldiers killed in battle and victims of terrorism since the state’s founding in 1948. Israelis stopped in their tracks, cars halted on highways, and heads bowed in memory. The scene repeated itself with another siren, this time for two minutes, the following day at 11 am.

As the country paid tribute to the fallen, large brushfires burned through forests and communities west of Jerusalem. Fanned by high winds, the fires led to evacuations in several areas and the temporary closure of Route 1, the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Defense Ministry declared a national emergency and urged the public to avoid military cemeteries. The military was deployed to assist firefighting teams. The blazes come just a week after another in the area consumed nearly 3,000 acres of forest and open land.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of arson, including a 50-year-old resident of Jerusalem’s Umm Tuba neighborhood who was accused of helping ignite the fires near the city. Police said he was caught trying to set fire to vegetation in southern Jerusalem and was apprehended after a short chase. Officers found a lighter, cotton wool, and other flammable materials on him.

Commander of the Jerusalem District Fire and Rescue Services Shmulik Friedman, who ordered the evacuation of six communities in the area, said authorities were possibly facing “the largest wildfire the country has ever seen” that was set to get worse as wind speeds climbed above 60 miles per hour.

Israel’s Transportation Minister Miri Regev canceled the evening’s torch-lighting ceremony, traditionally held at Mount Herzl to open Independence Day, due to the advancing fires. 

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar contacted his counterparts in Cyprus, Croatia, Italy, and Greece to request aerial firefighting assistance. It was not immediately clear whether any of the countries would respond.

At the state ceremony for victims of terror at Mount Herzl, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was met with heckling from protesters calling for his resignation. Cries of “You are the head, you are guilty” and “The hostages are suffering, bring them home now” interrupted his address.

Netanyahu praised the sacrifices of Israeli soldiers who, he said, “smashed the vice of our enemies.”

Referring to the 1948 War of Independence, he added: “The rebirth of Israel, unfortunately, was bought with pain and blood.” Netanyahu also condemned Palestinian incitement, saying, “The children of our enemies drink this poisonous fanaticism with their mother’s milk in kindergartens, in textbooks, in religious classes, in inciting sermons, in religious rulings that call for our destruction. But we will not allow them to destroy us because our life force is stronger than their force of death and destruction.”

President Isaac Herzog also addressed the audience, referencing the hostages held in Gaza and the broader obligations of Israeli society. “Our covenant with those who have died obligates us to support the soldiers of the IDF and all security forces — whether those performing national service, career soldiers, and reservists — and to care for those wounded in terror attacks and Israel’s wars,” he said.

In Jerusalem, more than 1,000 people attended the annual ceremony of OneFamily, Israel’s largest organization supporting terror victims and their families. Among those who spoke were siblings mourning lost brothers. “Being a bereaved twin is walking through this world split in half, knowing that part of your soul is no longer among the living,” said Itamar Weisel, whose twin brother Master Sgt. Elkana Weisel was killed in Gaza in January 2024. Daniel Oren, whose triplet brother Aviel Oren was killed at the Nova music festival during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, also spoke of daily grief and remembrance.

An English-language ceremony was held at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem in partnership with the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization, attended by former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, UN Ambassador Danny Danon, and other dignitaries. Cohen used the occasion to highlight the Iranian threat, saying it was “not just a strategic challenge, but a moral one.”

Israel “must do everything in its power — diplomatically, politically, and if necessary, operationally — to ensure that Iran never acquires nuclear weapons,” the former spy chief said.

“Just as our fallen stood bravely against danger, so too must we stand resolute against those who threaten the very existence of our nation,” Cohen added. 

Still in Jerusalem, around 3,000 people attended an unusual memorial ceremony for ultra-Orthodox soldiers who served in IDF tracks designated for Haredi recruits. The event occurred amid renewed debate over a law to expand Haredi conscription, which remains a politically divisive issue. While the IDF issued about 10,000 conscription orders to eligible Haredi men over the past year, only 2 percent have reported for service. Extremist factions in the Haredi community have at times staged violent protests against the draft, targeting police and recruiters.

Another annual memorial event that often draws controversy was held in Jaffa, jointly organized by Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle – Families Forum, and attended by bereaved Israelis and Palestinians.

In Hurfeish, a Druze village in northern Israel, hundreds gathered at the local military cemetery to remember fallen soldiers from the community. Diana Zoher Rabah, whose father was killed while serving in the Israel Defense Forces in 1994, said, “Every soldier who is killed brings up fresh memories.” Two Druze soldiers from the village, Anwar Serhan and Jawad Amer, were killed during the current war. “We have lived with this pain for 30 years, and I know what they will go through for the next 30 years,” Rabah said.

At the same event, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush addressed recent violence in Syria involving the Druze community. “We will make sure that nobody hurts the Druze in Syria,” he said. More than a dozen people were killed this week in fighting between pro-regime Sunni militias and Druze residents near Damascus. Half of those killed were from the Druze community. Porush also recalled the July attack in Majdal Shams, where 12 Druze children were killed by Hezbollah rockets. 

“The Druze give so much to this nation,” Porush said.

The Druze community has long been recognized for its loyalty to the state, with most serving in the IDF and national service. Sara Bisan, a Druze teenager from the national service told The Algemeiner from Auschwitz on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day last week that “serving the state of Israel is an honor and a privilege.”

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