On Sunday, two gunmen opened fire at Sydney’s Bondi Beach during a gathering for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, killing 11 people and wounding many others in what has been declared a “terrorist” attack.
New South Wales police reported that emergency responders transported at least 29 wounded individuals from the beach, a major tourist destination in Australia’s largest city, to local hospitals.
One of the alleged shooters was killed, and the second remains in a critical condition.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised the civilians who tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen, calling them “heroes.”
Police declared the incident a “terrorist incident” after discovering suspected “improvised explosive devices” in a vehicle near the beach linked to the deceased suspect. Albanese strongly condemned the violence, stating:
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith — an act of evil, antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation.”
He stressed the solidarity of the nation, adding:“An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian.”
The shooting occurred during the annual “Hanukkah by the Sea” event, which police estimated was attended by over a thousand people.
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Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the event as a “cruel attack on Jews” and urged Australian authorities to intensify efforts against antisemitism.
Conversely, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Australian government of having “fuelled anti-Jewish sentiment” in the period preceding the shooting.
As the gunfire erupted (first reported at 6:47 pm), crowds fled the popular eastern Sydney beach in panic. Camilo Diaz, a 25-year-old student, told AFP at the scene:
“We heard the shots. It was shocking, it felt like 10 minutes of just bang, bang, bang. It seemed like a powerful weapon.”
A witness who preferred to remain anonymous reported seeing six dead or wounded individuals on the beach.
An AFP journalist at the scene noted that the grassy hill overlooking the beach was “strewn with discarded items from people fleeing, including an abandoned children’s stroller.”
Images from the public broadcaster ABC showed paramedics tending to the wounded on the grass, and a weapon, which appeared to be a pump-action shotgun, was seen lying near a tree.
A British tourist, Timothy Brant-Coles, told AFP he saw “two shooters in black with semi-automatic rifles” after the shooting started.
The incident occurs amid a string of antisemitic attacks that have caused fear in Australia’s Jewish communities since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and the subsequent conflict in Gaza.
The Australian government had previously accused Iran of orchestrating attacks, including the torching of a kosher cafe in Bondi in October 2024 and a major arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024 (no injuries were reported in these two attacks).
Robert Gregory, the head of the Australian Jewish Association, called the Bondi Beach shooting a “tragedy but entirely foreseeable,” and stated that:
“The Albanese government was warned so many times but failed to take adequate actions to protect the Jewish community.”
In contrast, the Australian National Imams Council, a leading Muslim organization, condemned the shooting as “horrific,” offering that “Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all those who witnessed or were affected by this deeply traumatic attack.”
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