[8] With an affected radius of half a kilometer around the rupture point and a depth of several meters,[9][10] fears were raised that damage to the surrounding environment would be extensive.

[13] EAPC was instructed to pump dry the puddles of jet fuel that had formed on the ground and to transfer the affected soil to a treatment plant for decontamination.

Experts consulted to evaluate the extent of the damage estimated that cleaning up the area of the spill would take weeks to months, with fears that if the situation was not resolved by wintertime, rainfall would exacerbate it.

At the same time, senior contacts in the nature preservation community told Haaretz that the scale on which earth had been removed from the vicinity of the spill was excessive and had turned it into "a mining and quarrying site".

An official Nature and Parks Authority report completed in late August indicated that the rehabilitation efforts had indeed taken an ecological toll on the site and seriously disrupted the routines of local wildlife.

[17] EAPC denied responsibility for the disaster, stating that the driver of the backhoe loader was there by subcontract and that an on-site park ranger had instructed him to transplant a tree.

[19] The chairman of the Knesset Environment and Health Committee urged the government to adopt his recommendation for a revised Petroleum Law and radically alter its approach to fossil fuel-related environmental protection.