Israel Struggles with Massive Tar Slick, Beaches Contaminated, Closed

Israeli authorities on Sunday warned people to keep away from the country's Mediterranean shore to avoid a massive tar slick, as thousands of labourers and volunteers worked to clean contaminated beaches.

Powerful winds and unusually high waves pummelled Israel's entire Mediterranean coastline over Tuesday and Wednesday, with tonnes of tar staining 160 kilometres (96 miles) of beaches along Israel's Mediterranean coast from Gaza to Lebanon.

The ministries of interior, environmental protection and health urged people to avoid "the beaches for bathing, sport and leisure, until further notice". 

"Exposure to tar can risk the public's health," they said in a joint statement.

The tar, which killed many marine creatures, was apparently a result of "dozens to hundreds of tonnes" of oil being unloaded from a ship, according to the environmental protection ministry. 

A massive cleanup operation has been launched involving thousands of volunteers and soldiers on loan from the army.

At the Gador nature reserve between Haifa and Tel Aviv, Nature and Parks Authority ranger Gil Haviv lifted tar debris from the sand, placing them in a garbage bag.

"It's a huge disaster, words can't describe it," he said.

His colleague, ranger Noam Matsri said they must rush to pick up as much of the tar as possible before the weather helped it diffuse into the sand. 

"As long as it's cold, it's okay, when it's going to be warm, it's going to stick, it's going to liquify," he said.

Open-water swimmer Melody Cohen said the it was "very depressing, very upsetting to see this type of damage done to our environment".

"What we've seen is only what's on the shores, we still don't know what's going on under the water," she...