Emergency crews in Israel are battling a wildfire that sent smoke drifting over Jerusalem and forced drivers to run from their cars.

About 5,000 acres (20 square kilometres) have been scorched since the blaze started in the hills outside the city on Wednesday.

The ambulance service said at least 12 people had been treated in hospital, mainly for smoke inhalation, but the fire service said “miraculously” no homes had been damaged.

Ten firefighting planes were dropping fire retardant material on Thursday and authorities said eight more were due to arrive.

Spain, Italy, France, Croatia, Ukraine and Romania are among those sending aircraft.

People celebrating Israel‘s independence day on Thursday were advised to be exceptionally careful if holding barbecues and told to avoid forests and parks.

Most official celebrations were cancelled as security forces were diverted to the fire effort.

The blaze is the most significant the country has seen in the past decade, according to Tal Volvovitch, from the fire and rescue authority.

However, an evacuation order for about 12 towns near Jerusalem has been lifted and the main highway linking Jerusalem to Tel Aviv also reopened on Thursday.

A day earlier, drivers had to abandoned their vehicles when flames encroached on the road.

Firefighting is continuing but the blaze has now been mostly contained, said the Jewish National Fund, which manages forests in the country.

It said conditions had been perfect for fires to spread – hot and dry, little rain over winter, and strong, shifting winds.

“Of course when there’s a series of drought years, it’s a fertile ground for fires,” said the fund’s Anat Gold, adding that climate change was the likely cause.

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Israel often gets wildfires in the summer but it’s unusual for them to break out this early in the year.

In 2010, a forest fire burned for four days on Israel’s Mount Carmel, claiming 44 lives and destroying around 12,000 acres.

This is a significant moment in this war.

It strengthens ties between Ukraine and the US which have been fraying to the point of disintegration.

But will it increase the chances of a diplomatic breakthrough to find peace? Possibly not. Without that, this agreement will have changed little in this pointless grinding war.

But it does give Donald Trump a personal political investment in a conflict he has always seemed to have regarded as someone else’s fault, someone else’s problem and a money pit for US resources.

On the face of it, it is a purely economic agreement.

Ukraine had wanted to tie in explicit guarantees of continuing US military support. The details are scant but they appear to be absent.

But reaching agreement is a considerable diplomatic achievement on both sides.

The negotiations have been painful.

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The idea of a minerals deal was initially proposed by President Zelenskyy but at times he must have regretted it as acrimonious talks threatened to torpedo US support for Ukraine entirely.

It was meant to have been signed in February before the infamous Zelenskyy-Trump-Vance bust up in the Oval Office.

At one point it looked like an act of extortion. Like gangsters running a protection racket, the US seemed to be demanding all Ukraine’s mineral wealth in return for continued support.

But the terms now look less onerous. Most importantly it seems the Trump administration is not asking retrospectively for the return of billions given by the Biden administration, by means of this minerals extraction agreement.

The turning point in negotiations appears to have been the meeting engineered between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Pope’s funeral in Rome on Saturday. Mr Zelenskyy appears to have persuaded Mr Trump it was a deal worth signing.

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The terms are vague and not detailed but the agreement appears to be more of a long term proposal for joint cooperation over Ukraine’s economic future.

America will invest in exploiting Ukraine’s mineral wealth but also share the profits years down the line.

The signing comes at a crucial time for Ukraine. Its forces are losing ground on the battlefield. And Mr Trump’s efforts to broker peace look decidedly one-sided against them.

Falling in line on this deal was essential for Ukrainians. Whether it saves them from President Trump walking away and ending military support for them anyway, is by no means certain.

It was a welcome party of sorts, and it was assembled near arrivals at Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

A few people clutched flowers, others brought presents, while everyone carried a sense of relief.

Two children from Gaza had been given permission to enter Britain for specialist medical care and the pair would arrive on the evening flight from Cairo.

It was a significant moment – the first time UK visas had been granted to children from this war-ravaged enclave – and the product of months of struggle by a small group of British volunteers.

As those in attendance offered up a cheer, a five-year-old called Ghena Abed emerged shyly from behind the security gates. With fluid pressing on her optic nerve, she needs urgent treatment to save the vision in her left eye.

Also in this party was a 12-year-old girl called Rama Qudiah. She is weak and malnourished and suffers from incontinence. Medics think she requires an operation on her bowel.

Her mother, Rana, told us their arrival in Britian “is just a like a dream”.

Her daughter has certainly been fortunate. A small number of children from Gaza have benefited from medical evacuations, with the majority receiving care in countries in the Middle East, Europe, as well as the United States.

In March, the Israelis signed a deal with Jordan which could allow 2,000 children to leave the enclave for treatment of war injuries and conditions like cancer. However, just 29 were allowed to go at first instance.

The process has not been easy

Until now, not a single child from Gaza has entered the UK for medical care since the start of the current conflict, and the process has not been an easy one for the volunteers at Project Pure Hope.

They told Sky News it has taken 17 months to arrange temporary visas for Ghena and Rama.

“A lot of us are health care workers and I think it’s in our DNA that when we see people who are suffering, particularly children, we want to try and do something and that’s what motivated us,” says Dr Farzana Rahman from Project Pure Hope.

When asked why she thinks it has taken so much time to secure their visas, Dr Rahman said: “I don’t know.”

Group argues it has no time to lose to help other children

But it is clear the arrival of children from Gaza is an issue of sensitivity. The British volunteers told us on a number of occasions that all costs would be met by private sources. The children will return to Gaza when the treatment is completed.

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Project Pure Hope is not finished, however – group members have drawn up a list of other children they can help, and argue they have no time to lose.

“One of the hardest parts of trying to make progress in this area is that delays cost lives. A number of children have died who we haven’t been able to help and this is an urgent situation and I think for all of us that’s the hardest part,” says Dr Rahman.