Nation closes beaches after huge oil spill

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

Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority has called the spill “one of the most serious ecological disasters” in the country’s history.

The Environmental Protection Ministry and activists estimate that at least 1,000 tons of tar have already washed up on shore. The ministry is trying to determine who is responsible.