'Alpha predator' sharks and humans clash on an Israeli beach
The sharks are attracted to this patch of water in Hadera during the cold season because of the warmth generated by the turbines of a nearby power station.
This has provoked an adrenaline-filled coexistence between the increasingly bold ocean predators and the curious, sometimes even careless, humans who come to swim.
Last month, a man who got a little too close was mauled to death as spectators on the beach screamed in terror.
All that was left were his bones, rescuers told AFP.
Now, bathers, authorities, and environmental and shark experts are asking how such an event, never seen before in Israeli waters, happened and what can be done to prevent it in the future.
"Sharks do not harm and never normally attack unless they feel either threatened or if somebody's getting into their territory," Irene Nurit Cohn, a member of rescue agency Zaka's scuba unit and a seasoned diver, told AFP.
"I've been diving since 1982. I've seen many sharks in my life, it has been thrilling and beautiful to watch sharks... but they're not, and I repeat, they're not dangerous," she said.
Cohn, who was part of the team that searched for the remains of Barak Tzach, a 45-year-old father of four, added that it was the people visiting the unique site who were "not behaving as they should."
"People were touching them and disturbing them," she said, adding that recent media coverage had drawn even more people to the beach.
- 'It's dangerous' -
Immediately after the deadly attack, the local authority erected metal fences with "danger" signs and blocked an access road into the adjacent nature reserve with a cement barrier.
Two weeks later, those had been removed, and life at the beach was back to normal.
Friends Einav and Carmel, teenagers from a nearby town, appeared largely undeterred by the recent death. They had come specifically to see the sharks.
"Sharks are my favourite animals and so I really wanted to see them, but we said that we will not go inside (the water) because it's dangerous," said Carmel.
Matan Ben David, a spear-fishing and diving instructor who said he has continued to enter the water, said swimmers should keep a distance and adhere to the rules of the sea.
"Sharks are part of nature, something we have to respect, we have to respect the ocean, we're just visitors here," he said, describing how he had witnessed people crowding the sharks and taking photographs.
"Sharks are an incredible animal, very majestic but they're an alpha predator and, at the end of the day, a lot of people do not always follow best practices," Ben David noted.
Like all unsupervised beaches in Israel, the one where the fatal attack took place was off-limits to swimming -- a ban that is widely flouted.
- Human-wildlife conflict -
Leigh Livine, a shark researcher who has been monitoring this area for the past four years, said that initially, research showed "the sharks were staying away from direct conflict with the humans entering the water."
But "you have a very, very small space that you see this human-wildlife conflict really coming out at certain times of the year."
Livine said the sharks were a combination of Dusky and Sandbar sharks and that they were present in the area between November and May.
But with temperatures rising each year due to climate change, "you have a lot more bodies in the water coming into conflict with the sharks."
Livine said she was shocked by last month's attack but, with interaction between the sharks and humans increasing, was surprised "that something hasn't happened sooner."
"It usually comes down to a conflict of space, either food resources, space resources, and we've been seeing humans harass the sharks, really provoking them," she said.
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ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
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SBS Australia
a day ago
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Daily Telegraph
2 days ago
- Daily Telegraph
‘Few days left to live': Hamas releases chilling video of ‘living skeleton' hostage Evyatar David
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News. Hamas forced emaciated Israeli hostage Evyatar David to dig his own grave in a sick new propaganda video, as the twisted terror group continued to stall negotiations to release the remaining living captives. In the nearly five-minute minute video released on Friday, Mr David is seen in a tunnel with a ceiling roughly as high as he is tall, crossing off dates on a calendar and digging a grave. 'I haven't eaten for a few days in a row,' Mr David says in the footage. The video shows Evyatar David digging inside a tunnel. Picture: Hamas/Hostages and Missing Families Forum In the middle of the video, the person behind the camera hands him a can of beans. 'This can is for two days,' Mr David says. 'This whole can is for two days so that I don't die. 'This is the grave I think I'm going to be buried in. Time is running out.' Mr David's family believe he just has a few days left to live. Picture: Hamas/Hostages and Missing Families Forum The David family, which allowed the release of the video, said in a statement sent to the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, 'We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas's tunnels in Gaza — a living skeleton, buried alive. 'The deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign is one of the most horrifying acts the world has seen.' The appalling video sparked outrage in Israel and across the globe. The 24-year-old has been in captivity since October 7, 2023. Picture: Al-Qassam Brigade Footage 'Hamas terrorists deliberately starve our hostages, documenting them in a cynical, humiliating, and malicious manner,' said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Naftali Fürst, a Holocaust survivor, said she watched the images of the hostages with a 'heavy heart', taking her back decades. 'I survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald. I know hunger up close. In the camps, we were given rations of bread and watery soup,' she said. 'We were so hungry, we would even eat grass if we could find it. 'I remember the humiliation — the complete stripping of human dignity. I know the fear, the terror.' In the video, David said he hasn't eaten in days. Picture: Hamas/Hostages and Missing Families Forum Lawmakers on Capitol Hill pointed to Hamas' monstrous treatment of Mr David as a reminder of the terrorist group's barbarity and role in prolonging the bloody conflict in Gaza. 'Iran-backed Hamas terrorists have held innocent people hostage, starving them for 666 days,' Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott said of the horrifying footage. 'Just look at these photos — it's gut-wrenching. Every day that goes by is a risk to their lives. We cannot stop until every hostage is home and Hamas is destroyed.' Mr David was 22 when he was taken. Picture: AFP Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman recounted how he met with Mr David's family and demanded Hamas release the hostages. 'I cannot even begin to imagine the horror of this video for them. I continue to stand with these families and every last hostage. Hamas: send these poor souls home, disarm, and end this hell on earth in Gaza,' Mr Fetterman said in response to the chilling video. Hudson Valley, New York Republican Representative Mike Lawler called the imagery 'vile' and underscored Hamas' role in fuelling the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. 'This is vile. Where are all those demanding Israel end this war now?' Mr Lawler said. 'Where are all those decrying the humanitarian crisis now? 'The only entity for the devastation that has been inflicted upon innocent Israelis and Palestinians is Hamas. Period. Full stop.' Mr David's mother, Galya David, left, and brother Ilay Yosef David. Picture: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP Bronx Democratic Representative Ritchie Torres said, 'The world's silence about the deliberate starvation of Israelis and Jews — at the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad — is as deafening as its hypocrisy.' 'A humanitarianism that devalues Jewish life is no humanitarianism at all, for it has been hollowed out by antisemitism,' Mr Torres added. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called the images 'vile' and 'unbearable'. 'The hostage's hell must end,' he wrote on X on Saturday. Israelis gather during an anti-government protest. Picture: Jack Guez/AFP Israel has come under heightened pressure on the world stage over the conditions in Gaza, with countries such as Canada, the UK and France moving to recognise a Palestinian state as soon as next month. But top US officials have repeatedly sought to drill home to allies that Hamas is the one preventing peace. 'The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!' President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this week. Thousands of Israelis protest every Saturday. Picture: Jack Guez/AFP Hamas is believed to still have 20 living hostages in captivity and 30 who are dead. Despite that, Israel has moved to allow more humanitarian aid to the war-torn enclave, including from airdrops, tactical pauses in key areas, and the opening of new routes for aid to flow through. The cruel hostage video marks the second one released by the terror group this week. On Thursday, chilling footage showed Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski ghostly and frail as he cried during the six-minute video. US envoy Steve Witkoff, left, arrives to meet families of Israeli hostages. Picture: AFP Both were kidnapped at the Nova music festival during the October 7 terror attack and are among the remaining 20 hostages believed to still be alive. 'They are on the absolute brink of death,' brother Ilay David said Saturday, speaking in English before a crowd of thousands in Tel Aviv gathered for their weekly demonstrations to call for the release of all hostages and an end to the war. Mr David called on President Trump to secure the release of the hostages 'by any means necessary'. 'To remain silent now is to be complicit in their slow agonising death,' he said. US special envoy Steve Witkoff, meanwhile, told Israeli hostages' families in a meeting in Tel Aviv earlier Saturday, that he had no news of progress in talks with Hamas, according to Hebrew media. 'I hear your frustration. But the situation is complicated. There are many reasons that I cannot detail,' he said. Mr Witkoff added that an end to the war was 'very close', according to a statement by the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters. 'We have a plan to … bring everyone home.' The Trump administration envoy said the US was after a deal that would release all hostages from the Palestinian enclave and end the war. 'No piecemeal deals,' he added. 'That doesn't work. We've tried everything.' Hamas refuted claims by Mr Witkoff it was ready to lay down arms, vowing not to disarm 'as long as the occupation exists' and until there is a fully sovereign Palestinian state. This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission Originally published as 'Few days left to live': Hamas releases chilling video of 'living skeleton' hostage Evyatar David
