Posters with the faces of hostages are displayed on a railing near a Tel Aviv beach on Oct. 12. Recently, a whale shark was spotted at several places along the coast of Israel, including Tel Aviv.Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
The first sighting of a fin cutting through the waters off an Israeli beach in late September caused panic. Lifeguards cleared the sand, cautious after a fatal shark attack earlier this year.
Within minutes, Aviad Scheinin, chief scientist with the Apex Marine Predator Lab at the University of Haifa, received a message on WhatsApp. There was a shark at Ashdod’s Beach 11, “a big shark,” he was told. He squinted at a shaky cellphone video, intrigued.
Usually, Israel sees dusky and sandbar sharks, which tend to aggregate around the warm outflow from power plants. This looked different. Dr. Scheinin asked for a clearer view, which the lifeguards secured with a GoPro from a jetski. What they sent back confirmed Dr. Scheinin’s suspicions: an enormous fish, its skin ornamented with a distinctive pattern of white dots.
“It was 100 per cent a whale shark,” he said.
He was thrilled. Never before had such an animal come to these waters. “It was the first time ever, since the creation of Israel,” he said.
Israel usually sees dusky sharks or sandbar sharks, like this one swimming near a snorkeler off the coast of Hadera in 2022.Ariel Schalit/The Associated Press
His excitement soon spread. As more sightings were reported along the coast – Ashkelon, Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Netanya – the arrival of the whale shark enthralled the country. It wasn’t just unusual.
Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the world, but are filter feeders that largely consume plankton and krill. The appearance of such a gentle giant at the exact moment an end to the war in Gaza finally seemed within reach felt like something more important.
A moment of meaning had arisen from the depths.
“Religious people said it was a sign from God. I would say it was a sign from nature,” said Yaara Grossmark, co-founder of Sharks in Israel, a local non-profit.
Soon, the shark had a name: Ofek, or Horizon.
Its arrival felt like the sea foretelling “something is coming,” Ms. Grossmark said. “Something good is coming.”
Instead, the shark brought a new reminder of the bitter hatreds that war – and, now, tenuous peace – have done nothing to ease.
Less than a month after the whale shark first surfaced, it was dragged onto a beach in Gaza – where the UN has frequently described famine-like conditions over the past two years – and carved up for meat as a large crowd watched.
A TikTok video shows a whale shark caught and cut up by fisherman off the coast of Gaza.
In Israel, the response was visceral. Hundreds posted on the Sharks in Israel Facebook page. Writing in Hebrew, they called Gazans criminals, barbarians and savages. They drew parallels between the Hamas-led murder of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, and the killing of the whale.
“How symbolic,” one wrote.
In Gaza, too, the whale shark’s arrival was freighted with meaning.
“We felt the sea sent us a great blessing, as people in the camps had nothing to eat,” said Raed Elwan, one of the fishermen who helped bring the creature to shore.
“We cut up the fish and gave about 70 per cent of the meat to displaced families for free.” The remainder was sold, the proceeds used to pay those who caught and butchered it. “This was not to profit, but to share the blessing,” Mr. Elwan said.
Sharks form an unlikely religious dividing line. Their consumption is considered halal but not kosher, and Israel has banned all forms of harvesting. Protected by law, sharks have become a subject of avid local interest. In 2014, Ms. Grossmark helped to launch a project collecting citizen observation of sharks and rays, which later became Sharks in Israel.
The group has recorded behaviours not previously documented and organized tours in hopes of making what animals remain a local attraction.
“You only protect what you love and you only love what you know,” Ms. Grossmark said.
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Across the Mediterranean, more than 40 per cent of shark and ray species are near extinction. Some populations have declined by 99.99 per cent, according to research published in 2008, their numbers depleted primarily by overfishing.
In Gaza, though, sharks have long formed part of the local diet.
“I have personally caught a shark that weighed only half a tonne,” said Mr. Elwan, who is known locally as Rambo. “But we had never seen one this big.” It measured at least five metres long – Mr. Elwan believes it was twice that – and weighed well over a tonne.
Palestinians fish in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on Oct. 8.Abdel Kareem Hana/The Associated Press
Whale sharks are native to warmer waters, including the Red Sea. It’s unclear how this one arrived, although it is possible it travelled through the Suez Canal.
It appeared off Gaza just after noon on Oct. 17, as Mr. Elwan fished in calm waters.
“Suddenly we saw a huge body moving slowly towards us. It got closer until it touched one of the fisherman’s nets, then wrapped the net around itself.” Those on the water were both amazed and confused. “Most of the fishermen panicked,” he said.
Mr. Elwan, a former prisoner released as part of a swap in 2011, saw an opportunity. He tied a rope around the shark’s head, hoping to bring it in.
The shark sought to escape by diving, but some 20 fishing boats assembled to pull it in. “Its strength was incredible,” he said. On shore, a huge crowd gathered and helped to drag it ashore, where it was killed and its meat carved off.
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War has badly damaged fishing in Gaza, Mr. Elwan said. The local port lies in ruins. Israeli munitions have destroyed boats. Sewage has poured into local waters, worsening earlier leaks that had already damaged fish stocks.
“This has forced fishermen to rely on rare and large catches when possible,” he said.
In Israel, meanwhile, those who study and follow sharks are still reckoning with what happened.
“We hoped for better,” Dr. Scheinin said. But, he added, “living in our region is complicated. Whether you are a whale shark or a human being.”