PARIS, May 23 (News Agencies) - France was on Thursday, May 23, investigating the cause of a fire which completely destroyed Israel's embassy in Paris overnight.

Israel’s ambassador to France, Elie Barnavi, said the fire was "apparently accidental."

Describing the blaze, which broke out in the early hours of Thursday at the embassy in Paris's elegant eighth district, as a "hard blow for us", he said the incident was probably caused by a short-circuit.

Asked about the cause of the fire, which broke out around 2:20 am (0020 GMT) when no embassy personnel were in the building, Paris police chief Jean-Paul Proust told reporters he had "no information" and that he had "no indications" that the fire was the result of arson, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

He told reporters the building, in Paris' eighth district, had been "entirely destroyed."

Earlier police said the fire had broken out on the first story of the six-floor building, spreading to other floors, AFP reported.

It was largely extinguished by 4:30 am (0230 GMT) after a hours long battle by 150 fire officers and 35 fire engines.

Five fire fighters were hurt by heat or falling debris, the chief firefighter Laurent Vibert, said.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and other top officials rushed to the scene and President Jacques Chirac telephoned Barnavi, promising a full enquiry.

"Having been immediately informed about the fire at the Israeli embassy, the President telephoned ambassador Elie Barnavi, as well as the (French) Prime Minister, who is at the scene," the office said.

"Everything is being done to determine the cause of the fire," it said.

Forensic experts were at the scene to determine the cause of the fire.

Asked what he believed caused the fire, Vibert said it was "too soon to say."

"Work was being done on the building. It was a building that was being restructured. The night watchman saw smoke coming out of an office," he said.

"The flames have caused extensive damage inside. There is nothing left of the walls, the windows."

Around 60 people in the neighborhood were evacuated.

Vibert said that stone had shattered in parts of the building due to the intensity of the fire.

Raffarin told reporters he was at the scene in order to express France's "sympathy to Israel's ambassador and the Israeli people over this event, about which we do not yet know the cause of, but which, in any case, for an embassy, is a particularly cruel event...”

He said the embassy's archives, information and its diplomatic work would be affected by the fire.

There have been no official suggestions that the fire was linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has recently prompted a wave of anti-Jewish attacks throughout France.

However, Raffarin said: "Everything to do with Israel is serious during the period that we are going through, hence our special solidarity."

Interior minister Sarkozy said the fire had been "extremely brutal".

"The Israeli embassy is a symbol," he said. "I have come here to demonstrate our solidarity, our friendship with Israel.”