Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Hassan Diab said on Monday he was following up on an oil spill that may have originated from a ship passing near the Israeli coast and has now reached the southern shores of Lebanon.
Israeli officials said on Sunday they were trying to find the ship responsible for the spill that drenched much of its Mediterranean shoreline with tar, an environmental blow that will take months or years to clean up.
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Tar is seen on the beach in the aftermath of an oil spill that drenched much of the Mediterranean, in Tyre nature reserve, Lebanon
(Photo: Reuters)
Lebanon's Diab has tasked the defense minister, environment minister and the National Council for Scientific Research with the follow-up, a statement from his office said.
The sticky black deposits that showed up on Israeli beaches were visible on Monday on beaches in a nature reserve in Tyre, south Lebanon.
The United Nations interim forces in Lebanon will be informed to draw up an official report, the statement said.
Israel is looking at a possible source at a Feb. 11 oil spill from a ship passing about 50 km (30 miles) offshore.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel
(Photo: GPO)
In the meantime, on a tour of a beach at the southern city of Ashdod, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government would allocate funds to support the cleanup.
Visiting the beach alongside Netanyahu, Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said cleaning the beaches would cost "tens of millions of shekels."
She also noted that Israel planned to sue those responsible - once they are identified.
"We need to look to the future. This event and similar ones around the world show us how crucial it is to wean ourselves from these polluting fuels, and shift to renewable energy," Gamliel said in remarks relayed by Netanyahu's office.