House fires broke out in nine separate buildings in Beersheba on Wednesday night, in what officials suspected was a string of arson incidents in the southern city. The fires were all in a single area.

Firefighters rescued 15 people from the burning buildings, including children and babies, and extinguished blazes that broke out in lobbies, electrical cabinets and bomb shelters, a Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said on Thursday.

Fire and Rescue Service investigators were present at the scenes and said that initial findings showed at least two of the nine fires were set intentionally.

A resident of one of the buildings told the Ynet news outlet they were alerted to a problem when his daughter saw smoke coming through their........

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