Residents of the Dead Sea region were ordered to remain indoors for some two hours on Friday afternoon as emergency services worked to contain a bromine leak from a nearby factory.
Police closed parts of Route 90 to traffic over the leak and instructed residents of the Neot Hakikar and Neve Zohar communities to stay inside until further notice.
They were given the all-clear some two hours later and the highways were fully reopened.
The leak originated from a 17-ton tank of bromine.
Photos from the scene showed an orange gas cloud gathering over the factory.
Firefighters and emergency services were called to the scene to seal the container and prevent the chemical leak from spreading.