Israel closes Mediterranean shore after oil devastates coast

Marine vets take samples from a fin whale washed up on a beach in Nitzanim Reserve, Israel (Ariel Schalit/AP)

Israel has closed all its Mediterranean beaches until further notice, after an offshore oil spill deposited tar across more than 100 miles of coastline, in what officials are calling one of the country’s worst ecological disasters.

Activists began reporting globs of black tar on Israel’s coast last week after a heavy storm washed the petroleum by-products ashore, wreaking havoc on wildlife.