WATCH Shocking scenes: Drivers told to abandon cars and run as fires engulf Road 1

Highway 1, the lifeline between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, has become a scene of apocalyptic chaos as a ferocious wildfire rages through the Beit Shemesh region on April 30, 2025. By 14:15, the inferno, driven by blistering winds, has leapt across the road, turning it into a fiery gauntlet. Police, overwhelmed by the blaze’s ferocity, are shouting for drivers to abandon their cars and flee on foot, as thick, black smoke swallows the horizon. Three private vehicles and a truck are burning, their flames licking the sky, though miraculously, no one remains trapped inside. Nine terrified individuals have been rescued from cars engulfed in smoke, their escape a desperate race against the encroaching fire.

The road is a graveyard of abandoned vehicles, their owners scrambling through choking haze, some collapsing from thirst and exhaustion. A haunting testimony circulating on a Beit Shemesh WhatsApp group captures the panic: a fleeing survivor warns that “many people could die of thirst if we don’t act.” Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, in a frantic press conference, begged for water deliveries, urging motorcyclists to rush six-packs to those stranded on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv route. Social media posts describe crowds stumbling along the highway, some hitching rides on the backs of trucks, their faces etched with fear as they escape the flames.

United Hatzalah paramedics are battling to save over 15 victims, including toddlers and elderly, suffering from smoke inhalation, their ambulances weaving through the chaos to evacuate the worst-hit. Firefighters, numbering 119 crews with 10 aircraft, are locked in a desperate struggle to contain the blaze, but the fire’s relentless advance has closed Highway 1 in both directions from Latrun to Nahshon. The scene is one of sheer pandemonium, screams, sirens, and the roar of flames converge as Israel fights a wildfire that threatens to consume everything in its path.