Flying supertanker and Palestinian crews help subdue Israeli forest fire

The operation was helped in part by the world's largest flying fire extinguisher – a Boeing 747 from the US carrying 20,000 gallons of water and fire retardants.

Two teenage brothers were arrested on Saturday in connection with the country's worst forest fire, which has killed 41 people, most of them prison guards whose bus was trapped by the flames while they were en route to evacuate a jail.

The blaze has been tearing through the Carmel forest near Haifa since Thursday.

"The fire department has declared that the fire is under control," said fire official Boaz Rakia, who added that the blaze was still burning in some places. He said that most of the thousands of Israelis evacuated from their homes would be allowed to return.

"From our point of view, the danger has passed for all the places that were evacuated," Mr Rakia said. The sole exception, he said, was a collective farming village which had suffered extensive damage.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said there had been 20 arson attempts in other forests over the past 48 hours.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appealed to the international community for help, and countries in the immediate region and as far afield as Russia and the US have dispatched planes and firefighters.

Israel leased the Boeing 747 Supertanker from a private US company. It has a number of advantages in addition to its size and capacity. It is able to operate at night, a feature that the other firefighting aircraft in the mission do not share.

Palestinian firefighters, ordinarily barred from entering Israel, crossed the border to join the international effort. Team leader Ibrahim Ayish said the 21 Palestinian firefighters hoped they could ignite some goodwill between two sides more often embroiled in conflict.

Mr Rosenfeld said he could not confirm media reports that the two arrested boys inadvertently sparked the blaze with a bonfire and a water pipe.