A pair of father-and-son gunmen killed at least 15 people in a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday, according to officials. At least 42 people have been hospitalized.
The elder gunman, aged 50, was shot and killed by police, authorities said. His 24-year-old son was wounded and remains hospitalized.
“We are satisfied that there were two offenders involved,” said New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon in an update on Monday morning. “We are not looking for a further offender.”
Among those killed are a 10-year-old and a 40-year-old man, who died at the hospital, according to the New South Wales (NWS) police.
The attack occurred around 6:45 p.m. local time on Sunday, when emergency services were called to the beach after reports of shots fired, NWS police also said.
Two police officers are also injured with gunshot wounds, NSW police said. Hundreds of people had gathered at the popular beach for Chanukah by the Sea, an event celebrating the start of Hanukkah, the annual Jewish festival.
Two “basic” improvised explosive devices were found at the scene and were “active,” Lanyon said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday called the shooting a “targeted attack against Jewish Australians” and a “terrorist incident.”
“An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian,” Albanese said in a statement posted on social media. “There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation. Let me be clear. We will eradicate it.”
Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement which runs events around the world, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event.
Video footage filmed by onlookers appeared to show two gunmen with long guns firing from a footbridge leading to the beach. One clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen.
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, largely due to the country’s strict gun laws. The country implemented some of the world’s toughest gun laws after its worst-ever mass shooting in 1996, when a lone gunman killed 35 people at a café and tourist site in Tasmania’s Port Arthur.
The attack is the first deadly mass shooting in Australia since 2022, when six people, including two police officers, were shot in a suspected ambush at a property as officers responded to a missing person’s report.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday blamed the Sydney attack on Australia’s prime minister, accusing him of doing nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism during the Gaza war.
In remarks delivered in English at a government meeting Sunday, Netanyahu said he wrote to Albanese in August, arguing that Australia’s move to recognize a Palestinian state encouraged “Jew hatred.” Australia and other large Western countries recognized a state of Palestine in September.
“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia,” Netanyahu said. “You took no action. You let the disease spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he spoke to Australia’s foreign minister, expressing Israel’s “pain and sorrow” over the attack, and arguing there has been a “surge in antisemitism in Australia” since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel Oct. 7, 2023.
There has been a spike in antisemitic attacks in Australia in recent years, including arson. In August, Albanese blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran.
U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres called the shooting “a heinous deadly attack on Jewish families.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the country has repeatedly called on Australia to take action against an “enormous wave of antisemitism.”
Bystander hailed as a hero for disarming Sydney gunman
A man who disarmed one of the gunmen in the deadly attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach is being praised for his heroic efforts and saving lives.
One clip broadcast on Australian television and shared on social media shows an unarmed man walking up behind one of the suspected gunmen, who was shooting a long gun, and then grabbing him around the neck. The civilian appears to wrestle and disarm the gunman, who falls to the ground before walking away. The man then points the gun at the alleged shooter and then raises his hand in the air.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns on Sunday praised the man’s actions, calling it “the most unbelievable scene” he’s ever seen.
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 — that man is a genuine hero,” Minns said during a press conference. “And I’ve got no doubt that there are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery.”
The man being heralded for his bravery has been identified by several news reports as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a fruit shop owner. NPR has not independently verified the man’s identity. A relative of the man told Australia’s 7News that Ahmed was shot twice and is in the hospital.
Gunmen killed at least 15 people in the mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, according to authorities. At least 42 people have been hospitalized.
Other video footage filmed by onlookers and posted on social media appeared to show two gunmen with long guns firing from a footbridge leading to the beach.
Source: npr.org by Chandelis Duster, Adam Hancock & Daniel Estrin