Israel shuts Mediterranean shore after oil devastates coast

 Israel closed all its Mediterranean beaches until further notice on Sunday, days after an offshore oil spill deposited an estimated dozens of tons of 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 byproducts ashore, wreaking havoc on wildlife.

Researchers with the country's Agriculture Ministry determined Sunday that a dead young fin whale that washed up on a beach in southern Israel died from ingesting the viscous black liquid, according to Kan, Israel's public broadcaster.

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