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Shark spotted in suburb of Tel Aviv

The sighting comes a day after a shark was seen off the coast of Ashkelon and two weeks after one was spotted in Ashdod, both cities south of Bat Yam.

Shark
Israelis on the beach in Hadera near the site of a shark attack, April 26, 2025. Photo by Yossi Zamir/Flash90.

A shark was spotted off the coast of the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam on Thursday, in the third such incident in the country in the last two weeks.

Beaches in the area were temporarily closed following the sighting.

The sighting comes a day after a shark was seen off the coast of Ashkelon and two weeks after one was spotted in Ashdod, both cities south of Bat Yam. It was not immediately clear if it was the same shark.

Last April, a man was killed in a shark attack off the coast of Hadera, north of Tel Aviv.

Shark attacks are extremely rare in Israel.

The only other recorded incident dates back to the British Mandate period, when a police officer was attacked off the coast of Tel Aviv.

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