Sharks drew crowds who swam with them off Israel's coast — until one man disappeared

HADERA, Israel (AP) — Israeli police on Tuesday scoured the Mediterranean coast for a swimmer they fear may have been attacked by a shark in an area that has long seen close encounters between marine predators and beachgoers who sometimes seek them out.

A shiver of endangered dusky and sandbar sharks has been swimming close to the area for years, attracting onlookers who approach the sharks, drawing pleas from conservation groups for authorities to separate people from the wild animal.

Nature groups say those warnings went unheeded. Police and rescue workers launched a search along the coast after reports that a shark attacked a swimmer on a beach near the city of Hadera. Israel’s Fire and Rescue Authority announced Tuesday afternoon they had found remains of a body, which was brought to the forensic institute for identification.

On Tuesday, the beach was closed as search teams used boats and underwater equipment to look for the man. His identity was not immediately known, but Israeli media said he had gone to swim with the sharks.

Israelis flocked in large numbers to the beach during a weeklong holiday, sharing the waters with a dozen or more sharks. Some tugged on the sharks’ fins, while others threw them fish to eat. Dusky sharks can grow to 4 meters (13 feet) long and weigh about 350 kilograms (750 pounds). Sandbar sharks are smaller, growing to about 2.5 meters (8 feet) and 100 kilograms (220 pounds).

Yigael Ben-Ari, head of marine rangers at the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, said it was not known how the man behaved around the sharks. But he said the public should know not to enter the water when sharks are present and not to touch or play with them.

One video shared by Israeli media showed a shark swimming right up to bathers in thigh-deep water.

“What a huge shark!” the man filming exclaims, as the shark approaches him. “Whoa! He’s coming toward us!”

“Don’t move!” he implores a boy standing nearby, who replies: “I’m leaving.”

The man then asks: “What, are you afraid of the sharks?”

The behavior, some of which was witnessed by an Associated Press photographer two days before the attack, flew in the face of the advice of the parks authority.

“Like every wild animal, the sharks’ behavior may be unpredictable,” the authority said in a statement.

This would be just the third recorded shark attack in Israel, according to Ben-Ari. One person was killed in an attack in the 1940s.

The area, where warm water released by a nearby power plant flows into the sea, has for years attracted dozens of sharks between October and May. Ben-Ari said swimming is prohibited in the area, but swimmers enter the water anyway.

“It would have been appropriate to take steps to preserve and regulate public safety, but over the years, chaos has developed in the area,” the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, an environmental group, said in a statement.

It said fishermen, boats, divers, surfers and snorkelers intersected dangerously with a wild animal that “is not accustomed to being around crowds of people.”

SPNI said further steps were needed to prevent similar incidents, like designating a safe zone from where people could view the sharks without swimming close to them.

Israeli authorities on Monday closed the beach and others nearby and they remained closed Tuesday.

Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem.

Shark swim in Mediterranean Sea as Israeli police are looking the area for a swimmer who they fear was attacked by a shark on Monday, near the Israeli city of Hadera, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man records video of a shark swimming in Mediterranean Sea in Hadera, Israel, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A shark swims past people in Mediterranean Sea in Hadera, Israel, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli police are looking for a swimmer who they fear was attacked on Monday by a shark, near the Israeli city of Hadera, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A shark swims in Mediterranean Sea as Israeli police are looking the area for a swimmer who they fear was attacked by a shark on Monday, near the Israeli city of Hadera, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A shark swims in Mediterranean Sea as Israeli police are looking area for a swimmer who they fear was attacked by a shark on Monday, near the Israeli city of Hadera, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A woman reaches to a shark swimming in Mediterranean Sea in Hadera, Israel, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

U.S. forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The announcement was made Friday by the U.S. military. The Trump administration has been targeting sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

The pre-dawn action was carried out by U.S. Marines and Navy, taking part in the monthslong buildup of forces in the Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the vessel called the Olina.

Navy officials couldn’t immediately provide details about whether the Coast Guard was part of the force that took control of the vessel as has been the case in the previous seizures. A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard said there was no immediate comment on the seizure.

The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of a broader effort by Trump’s administration to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

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FILE - President Donald Trump dances as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)