“The 33,500 wildfires recorded in 2024, alongside the fact that the government has funded fire buffer zones in only nine out of 81 high-risk areas, reflect a serious failure in Israel’s preparedness for wildfire outbreaks,” State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman wrote on the report’s findings.

The State Comptroller, also known as the State Ombudsman, periodically releases reports auditing Israeli preparedness and the effectiveness of government policies.

Since the devastating fires of 2016, which burned over 41,000 dunams (41 sq. km) of land and caused hundreds of millions of shekels in damages, Israeli authorities have repeatedly pledged to bolster local preparedness. But the 2025 follow-up audit shows that most of the promised regulatory tools — including binding safety protocols and designated “buffer zones” between communities and forests — have never been formally approved or funded.