A small earthquake rattled parts of Israel early today, shaking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for several seconds.
No damage or injuries were immediately reported.
Israel is located along the Great Rift Valley, which runs for 3,000 miles between Syria and Mozambique and passes through the Dead Sea, below Jerusalem’s eastern hills.
The fault line was caused by the separation of African and Eurasian tectonic plates 35 million years ago, a split that weakened the Earth’s crust.
On December 31, a small earthquake of magnitude 3.7 was measured in the Dead Sea region, but no damage was recorded.