Lifeguard shoots and wounds man on Bat Yam beach after being threatened with knife

A lifeguard shot a man in the leg on a Bat Yam beach on Friday after being threatened with a knife, police and medics said.

The 44-year-old man who was shot was reportedly a known criminal and police were investigating if he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the shooting.

Paramedics arrived at Sela Beach in Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv and evacuated the man to Wolfson Hospital in serious condition.

“When we arrivedת there was a lot of mayhem,” paramedics told Channel 12. “People took him into a parking lot where we treated him.”

Onlookers claim that the lifeguard shot the criminal in self-defense after the latter approached him with a knife, saying he was a member of a crime family.

There has been a 61 percent increase in homicides in Israel in 2023 compared to 2022.