Israeli State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss on Wednesday slammed two senior ministers over the Carmel fire in 2010, the worst natural disaster in Israel's history that left 44 people dead.

Most of the criticism in Lindenstrauss' report went to Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose ministry was in charge of the Israel Fire and Rescue Services. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz was blasted for failing to upgrade firefighting infrastructure, which was said to have lagged behind other Western countries.

"When it comes to saving human lives from catastrophic events, the finance minister must meet these needs, even partially, especially where a reasonable allocation of resources might have improved the operational readiness of the entire system," Lindenstrauss said.

Steinitz denied Lindenstrauss' conclusions. "(The report) is extremely unfounded and outright preposterous," he said, "and it threatens Israel's financial stability by making the (government) budget impossible."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office later released a statement, saying that "some of the deficiencies indicated by the Comptroller were corrected immediately after the Carmel disaster."

The statement listed a newly-established aerial firefighting squadron, opening of more fire stations, and fresh funds as the government's efforts to upgrade Israel's firefighting capability.

The Carmel Forest blaze in December 2010 claimed 44 lives, consumed 30 square km of natural forestry and wildlife and caused hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars worth of damages to property.