An earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale has set off alerts in the Dead Sea and southern Negev regions of Israel.
Magen David Adom has confirmed that no injuries have been reported.
According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, the quake took place around 9am IST (7am GMT) with the epicentre near Dimona.
Dimona is the third largest city in the Negev, with an estimated population of just under 40,000 people, and his home to the Negev Nuclear Research Centre.
One local resident, who left a testimony on the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre’s website, said they felt their bed moving.
Other testimonies included a resident of Beersheba, 49km west from epicenter, who said: “We live on a high floor. We felt the earthquake. The lamps on the ceiling moved.”
One person even reported feeling tremors in Haifa – 192km north-west of the epicentre – saying: “Felt a quake while sitting on my chair. Furniture was shaking lightly.”
Testimonies also came in from nearby Jordan, with a resident of Ma'an, 108km south-east of the epicentre, reporting: “I felt the desk in my office moving side to side for 2 seconds.”
Israel is situated along the seismically active Syrian-African Rift.
In the wake of deadly earthquakes in Turkey, Afghanistan, Russia’s Kamchatka region last year, experts warned that a major earthquake in Israel is not a possibility, but a certainty.
One of the most vulnerable areas in the country is the city of Nesher, which sits directly on the Yagur fault line, an active branch of the Syrian-African Rift.
Writing in The Jerusalem Post last year, the mayor of Nesher, Roy Levi, said: “This is why I repeat at every opportunity: urban renewal is not a real estate project; it is a national mission.
"Strengthening buildings, adding safe rooms, enforcing strict safety codes, and adapting our urban space to the geological and threat landscape we face are all critical elements of civilian protection.”
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