An attack on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach on Sunday left at least 15 people dead, including a 12-year-old, and hospitalized about 40 others, officials said. Among the injured were two police officers and three children.
Police said two gunmen — a 50-year-old father and his 24-year-old son — opened fire as the local Jewish community observed the first night of Hanukkah. Authorities later reported the 50-year-old gunman died and the son, identified as Naveed Akram, a Pakistani national living in Sydney, remained in hospital in a coma. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Akram had been investigated for roughly six months in 2019 by Australia’s main intelligence agency over suspected links to an alleged ISIS cell; that probe concluded he did not appear to pose a threat to public safety.
New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park said the death toll rose overnight and confirmed the victims included a 12-year-old. Not all victims had been publicly identified; the international Jewish group Chabad said one of its rabbis, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who helped organize the event called “Hanukkah by the Sea,” was among those killed. New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said more than 1,000 people were on the beach when the shooting began.
Lanyon described the incident as a “terrorist incident” and said the attackers used long guns. Police reported discovering several improvised explosive devices in a vehicle on Campbell Parade, the street that runs parallel to Bondi Beach, and a bomb disposal team was deployed.
Both Prime Minister Albanese and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns called the assault a targeted attack on Sydney’s Jewish community. Albanese said the attack was an act of antisemitic terrorism that had stained an iconic, family-oriented location.
Video and photographs from the scene showed injured people being carried away on stretchers. Bystander footage appeared to show a man tackling a suspected gunman, seizing his weapon and pushing him to the ground after shots were fired; the suspect later stood and walked away. New South Wales officials praised the man, identified by relatives in Australian media as fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed, as a hero.
International leaders condemned the attack. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a terrorist attack and denounced antisemitism. Officials from Israel, New Zealand, India, the United Kingdom and several European countries issued statements of condemnation and condolence. King Charles and Queen Camilla said they were appalled and saddened by the violent, antisemitic incident.
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, but researchers and officials say antisemitic incidents have increased in the country since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Gaza war, alongside a rise in hate incidents targeting Muslim communities. The Australian government appointed special envoys last year to address antisemitism and Islamophobia, but attacks and threats have continued. In July, an arsonist set fire to a synagogue door in Melbourne, months after a separate synagogue in that city was burned in a blaze that injured a worshipper.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.