Two gunmen opened fire at a Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday evening, killing at least 16 people and injuring nearly 38 others in what Australian authorities have declared a terrorist attack.
Police said one attacker was shot dead at the scene and the second was arrested in critical condition. Among the injured were two police officers.
Hundreds had gathered for Chanukah by the Sea, marking the first night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, when the attackers struck shortly after 6:45 pm local time.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the shooting was “targeted at Sydney’s Jewish community” and confirmed that an improvised explosive device had been found in one of the suspects’ vehicles. “The death toll remains fluid,” he said, as emergency crews continued to treat victims at nearby hospitals.
One of those killed was identified as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organiser of the Hanukkah event. Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish outreach movement, said he had worked in the coastal suburb for more than 18 years.
Videos broadcast on Australian television appeared to show a bystander tackling and disarming one of the gunmen before police intervened.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the massacre as “an act of evil antisemitism and terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation.” Speaking in Canberra, he said the country “must stand united against hate and violence” and pledged that authorities would “eradicate” such extremism.
President Emmanuel Macron that France would fight "relentlessly against antisemitic hatred" as he extended his condolences.
"France extends its thoughts to the victims, the injured and their loved ones," Macron said in English on X. "We share the pain of the Australian people and will continue to fight relentlessly against antisemitic hatred, which hurts us all, wherever it strikes.” Among the victims was one French citizen, Dan Elkayam, who lived in Australia since two years, according to French daily Le Parisien.
Security threats
Australia’s Jewish population, estimated at about 117,000, is concentrated largely in Sydney and Melbourne. In recent months, synagogues, Jewish schools and businesses in both cities have faced security threats and acts of vandalism.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said the country’s “heart misses a beat” in solidarity with the victims, urging Australia to “fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism” affecting its Jewish communities.
Gun violence remains rare in Australia following sweeping firearm controls introduced after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, which killed 35 people. Sunday’s mass shooting is the country’s deadliest in nearly three decades.
(With newswires)
