As Israel grappled with one of the largest wildfires ever in the country this week and the blaze barrelled towards Jerusalem, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a national emergency.

Wind-fueled fires in Israel are tearing through brush outside Jerusalem, prompting the evacuation of residents and leaving more than a dozen people hospitalized.

Authorities reopened the main highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and allowed evacuees to return to their homes in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.