Gunmen kill at least 15 and injured 42 people in attack on Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach

PTI, December 15, 2025, Sydney : Two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi beach, killing 15 people, including a child, officials said Monday, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.

The massacre at one of Australia's most popular beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn't suggest those and the shooting Sunday were connected. It was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.

One gunman, a 50-year-old man, was fatally shot by police. The other shooter, his 24-year-old son, was wounded and was being treated at a hospital, said the Mal Lanyon, New South Wales police commissioner.

Police said one gunman was known to security services, but Lanyon said authorities had no indication of a planned attack.

Those killed were aged between 10- and 87-years-old, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters. At least 38 others were injured in the attack.

“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach, that is associated with joy, associated with families gathering, associated with celebrations,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday.

“It is forever tarnished by what has occurred.”

Police pledged a “thorough” investigation, Lanyon said. Authorities were not looking for anyone else in connection with the massacre.

The shooting targeted a Jewish celebration

The violence erupted at the end of a summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, including hundreds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.

Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach worldwide and sponsors events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organiser of the event.

Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details.

Police said emergency services were called at about 6.45 pm, responding to reports of shots being fired. Video by onlookers showed people in bathing suits running from the water as shots rang out. Separate footage showed two men in black shirts firing with long guns from a footbridge leading to the beach.

One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one gunman, before pointing the man's weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.

Minns called the man, identified by relatives to Australian media as fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed, a “genuine hero.”

Arsen Ostrovsky, a lawyer attending the Hanukkah ceremony with his wife and daughters, was grazed in the head by a bullet. Ostrovsky said he moved from Israel to Australia two weeks ago to work for a Jewish advocacy group.

“What I saw today was pure evil, just an absolute bloodbath. Bodies strewn everywhere,” he told The Associated Press in an email from the hospital. "I never thought would be possible here in Australia."

Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told the AP he was waiting for his family when he heard shots.

"I sprinted as quickly as I could," Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes. “Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible."

Australian leader expresses shock and grief

Albanese vowed the violence would be met with “a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith.”

King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X he was horrified, and his “heart is with the Jewish community worldwide.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X: “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world.”

Police in cities around the world, including London, said they would step up security at Jewish sites.

Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the government's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.

Last year, the country was rocked by antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85 per cent of the nation's Jewish population lives.

Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran.

Pastor Matt Graham, who was conducting a service at Bondi Anglican Church when panicked people began entering for shelter, said antisemitism has been brewing in Sydney's eastern suburbs including Bondi, where the Jewish community is centred.

“I'm surrounded by antisemitic graffiti constantly,” Graham told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "As a Christian, I just want to declare I stand with the people of Israel.”

Israel urged Australia's government to address crimes targeting Jews. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he warned Australia's leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He claimed Australia's decision — in line with scores of other countries — to recognise a Palestinian state “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”

“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia ... and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said.

His office released safety recommendations Monday for Israelis travelling abroad, including avoiding large gatherings that don't have security, especially events at synagogues and Hanukkah gatherings. It also called for heightened awareness at Jewish and Israeli sites.

Mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws, making it much more difficult to acquire firearms.

Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014 and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.

In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state. 

Bystander disarming gunman commended for bravery

A bystander seen in a widely circulated video disarming a gunman during a deadly shooting rampage at a popular Australian beach is being heralded as a hero who saved lives.

Video footage posted to social media shows a passerby dressed in a white T-shirt and dark pants crouching behind a parked car before sneaking up behind a gunman, grabbing him and wrestling away his firearm. The bystander then points the weapon at the gunman, who falls to the ground.

The intervention drew wide praise, including from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns called it the “most unbelievable scene.”

“A man walking up to a gunman who had fired on the community and single-handedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk to save the lives of countless other people,” Minns said. “That man is a genuine hero.”

The bystander was identified as 43-year-old Ahmed Al Ahmed by 7NEWS Australia, which interviewed his cousin.

He was shot twice, with wounds to his arm and hand and needed to undergo surgery, according to the cousin identified by the news outlet as Mustafa. He said his cousin is a fruit shop owner and father of two from Sydney.

“We hope he will be fine," Mustafa said. "He's a hero. One hundred per cent, he's a hero.”

New South Wales Police acknowledged the bystander's actions, but could not confirm his identity. “Inquiries are continuing and we are still endeavouring to identify all involved,” police said in an e-mailed statement.

Two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounded dozens of others. The attack is being called an act of antisemitic terrorism.

The massacre at one of Australia's most popular and iconic beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn't suggest those episodes and Sunday's shooting were connected. It is the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.(AP)