Following several days of extensive searching, the body of Ayman Safiah was discovered at sea, Reshet 13's Ali Moghrabi reported on Wednesday afternoon.
Safiah went missing on Sunday, when he and his friend were swimming in Neve Yam near Atlit on Israel's northern coast. According to Ynet, Safiah pushed his friend out of the water, but was unable to get himself out.
On Monday, police asked the public to help in the search. According to N12's Furat Nassar, his body was found by the coast of Atlit.
"My heart is broken by reports that police handed out fines to Arab citizens that assisted the searches instead of searching for him on their own," Israeli comedian Noam Shuster tweeted on Tuesday.
Arab-Israelis and Palestinian circles blamed police for failing to search for Safiah. According to Middle East reporter Noga Tarnopolsky, Safiah's family said the authorities have not done enough to find him.
"To my great dismay, there have not been sufficient endeavors to find Ayman," feminist activist and Joint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman said in the Knesset. "His family is greatly concerned and the entire Arab community is worried about his fate."
עוד מחכים לאיימן ספייה pic.twitter.com/8UQ0lk0vQ3
— MK Aida Touma-Sliman (@AidaTuma) May 27, 2020
Sliman continued, saying she called on "Public Security Minister [Amir Ohana], whom I tried to reach yesterday to get him involved on the matter, as well as Defense Minister Benny Gantz, to use all existing measures and begin actually searching for Ayman Safiah who has been missing for two to three days."
She called on police to "help the family calm their fears or [address] their wait for the unknown."
Known as the "Arab Billy Elliot," Safiah was a world-class ballet dancer, a teacher and an LGBTQ rights activist.