Swimmer's remains found after shark attack in waters off Israel's Mediterranean coast

JERUSALEM (AP) — A man in Israel has died after he was attacked by a shark, police and the victim's wife said Wednesday, after he went swimming in an area that draws dozens of the marine predator and also curious beachgoers.

After a two-day search, police said remains that had been found at the site of the attack on the country's Mediterranean coast matched those of the man. Israeli media identified him as Barak Tzach, a man in his 40s and a father of four.

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

In recent days, the waters drew large crowds who were seen swimming with the sharks. Some tugged on their tails and threw them food. Authorities condemned the behavior and have issued warnings not to approach the sharks. Swimming is banned at the beach, but bathers enter the water regardless.

In a Facebook post, a woman identified by Israeli media as Tzach's wife, said he had entered the waters with snorkeling gear and an underwater camera. It was not his first time swimming in this part of the sea, she said.

“Barak entered the water to dive and document the sharks, not to feed them or play with them,” wrote Sarit Tzach. She said a fisherman who was with her husband said he did not touch or feed them.

When the sharks approached too closely, she said, he used the stick holding his camera to “gently distance them.” The fisherman then called Tzach back to the shore and as he slowly returned he was attacked, Sarit Tzach wrote.

It was just the third recorded shark attack in Israel, according to Yigael Ben-Ari, head of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority's marine rangers. One person was killed in an attack in the 1940s, he said.

Police and rescue teams held a two-day search after the attack and they said they were continuing to look for remains. Israeli authorities closed the beach and nearby ones as well after the attack.

Israelis flocked in large numbers to the beach during a weeklong holiday, sharing the waters with a dozen or more sharks.

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).

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?”

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)

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — NATO foreign ministers on Thursday debated an American demand to massively ramp up defense investment to 5% of gross domestic product over the next seven years, as the U.S. focuses on security challenges outside of Europe.

At talks in Antalya, Turkey, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that more investment and military equipment are needed to deal with the threat posed by Russia and terrorism, but also by China which has become the focus of U.S. concern.

“When it comes to the core defense spending, we need to do much, much more,” Rutte told reporters. He underlined that once the war in Ukraine is over, Russia could reconstitute its armed forces within three to five years.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio underlined that “the alliance is only as strong as its weakest link.” He insisted that the U.S. investment demand is about “spending money on the capabilities that are needed for the threats of the 21st century.”

The debate on defense spending is heating up ahead of a summit of U.S. President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts in the Netherlands on June 24-25. It's a high-level gathering that will set the course for future European security, including that of Ukraine.

In 2023, as Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine entered its second year, NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2% of GDP on national defense budgets. So far, 22 of the 32 member countries have done so.

The new spending plan under consideration is for all allies to aim for 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure — roads, bridges, airports and seaports.

While the two figures add up to 5%, factoring in infrastructure and cybersecurity would change the basis on which NATO traditionally calculates defense spending. The seven-year time frame is also short by the alliance’s usual standards.

Rutte refused to confirm the numbers under consideration, but he acknowledged the importance of including infrastructure in the equation, “for example to make sure that bridges, yes, are there for you and me to drive our cars but also if necessary to make sure that the bridge will hold a tank. So all these expenditures have to be taken into account.”

But he didn't signal any progress on narrowing the numbers down after the meeting, which came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy waited, apparently in vain, in the Turkish capital Ankara for Russian President President Vladimir to hold face-to-face talks on ending their 3-year-old war.

It’s difficult to see how many members would reach a new 3.5% goal. Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain are not even spending 2% yet, although Spain does expect to reach that goal in 2025, a year past the deadline.

The U.S. demand would require investment at an unprecedented scale, but Trump has cast doubt over whether the U.S. would defend allies that spend too little, and this remains an incentive to do more, even as European allies realize that they must match the threat posed by Russia.

Europe-wide, industry leaders and experts have pointed out challenges the continent must overcome to be a truly self-sufficient military power, chiefly its decades-long reliance on the U.S. as well as its fragmented defense industry.

“There is a lot at stake for us,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said. He urged his NATO partners to meet the investment goals faster than the 2032 target "because we see the tempo and the speed, how Russia generates its forces now as we speak.”

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his country should reach 2.5% by 2027, and then 3% by the next U.K. elections planned for 2029.

“It’s hugely important that we recommit to Europe’s defense and that we step up alongside our U.S. partners in this challenging geopolitical moment where there are so many precious across the world, and particularly in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

As an organization, NATO plays no direct security role in Asia, and it remains unclear what demands the Trump administration might make of the allies as it turns its attention to China. The last NATO security operation outside the Euro-Atlantic area, its 18-year stay in Afghanistan, ended in chaos.

Asked after the meeting about whether the next summit communique will underline that still Russia poses the greatest threat to all NATO allies, Rutte refused to be drawn: “We will see what is the best way to play that,” he said.

Question marks also hang over the way the leaders will frame NATO's commitment to Ukraine. The war there has dominated recent summits, with envoys struggling to find language that would further anchor the country to the alliance without actually allowing it to join.

But this year, the United States has taken Ukraine's membership off the table. Trump has shown impatience with Zelenskyy and remains unclear whether he will be invited to the meeting in The Hague.

Cook reported from Brussels, and Fraser from Ankara, Turkey.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, right, talks to Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel as they arrive for a group photo during a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, center, talks to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, right, next to Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, left, as they wait for a group photo during a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte talks to journalists as he arrives for a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy talks to journalists as he arrives for a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

NATO foreign ministers pose for a group photo during their informal meeting in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan talks to journalists as he arrives for a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, talks to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during an informal meeting of NATO's foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte talks to journalists as he arrives for NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint press statement with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool Photo via AP)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio departs a lunch between President Donald Trump and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)