Firefighters battled wildfires on the outskirts of Jerusalem for a second consecutive day, hoping to extinguish some of the worst blazes in the country in recent years before an expected uptick in winds later on Thursday.

The 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 after the fires interrupted celebrations to mark Independence Day.

But firefighters were racing to take full control of the blazes before winds were forecast to pick up, said Tal Volvovitch, a spokeswoman for Israel’s fire and rescue service.