At least 15 people were killed and about 42 others hospitalized after a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday, Australian officials said. Authorities said two gunmen, a father and son, carried out the attack during the Chanukah by the Sea gathering.
Police said the older attacker, 50, was shot and killed by officers at the scene. His 24-year-old son was wounded and remains hospitalized. New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said investigators are satisfied there were two offenders and that they are not searching for further suspects.
Among the dead were a 10-year-old child and a 40-year-old man who died after being taken to hospital. The shooting began at about 6:45 p.m. local time after emergency services received reports of gunfire. Two police officers were also struck by gunfire and treated. Organizers said hundreds had gathered on the popular beach for the Chanukah event.
Officers discovered two rudimentary explosive devices at the scene, which Commissioner Lanyon described as active. Chabad, the Orthodox Jewish organization that ran the event, identified one of those killed as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer.
Video recorded by bystanders appeared to show two men with long guns firing from a footbridge leading to the beach. In one widely circulated clip, a civilian is seen tackling and disarming an alleged attacker.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the incident a targeted attack on Jewish Australians and described it as a terrorist incident, saying such hatred and violence have no place in the nation.
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, largely because of strict gun laws enacted after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, when 35 people were killed. Officials noted this is the country’s first deadly mass shooting since a 2022 ambush that left six people, including two police officers, dead.
The attack prompted international reactions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Australian government and said he had warned about a rise in antisemitism. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar expressed sorrow and pointed to an increase in antisemitic incidents in Australia since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel. There has been a recent spike in antisemitic acts, including arson; in August Prime Minister Albanese blamed Iran for two attacks and severed diplomatic ties with Tehran.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres described the shooting as a heinous attack on Jewish families. Israeli President Isaac Herzog urged Australian authorities to confront what he called a growing wave of antisemitism.