Deathtoll rises to 16 after shooting at Jewish event on Sydney's Bondi Beach

SYDNEY: The death toll from Sunday's mass shooting at a Jewish holiday celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach rose to 16, police said early on Monday (Dec 15).

Police said in a post on X that 16 people had died and 40 people remained in hospital following the shooting. One of the suspected gunmen initially killed on Sunday is included in that toll.

Two gunmen shot people at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday (Dec 14) in a "terrorist" attack on a gathering for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

Emergency responders rushed at least 29 people to local hospitals from the beach, one of the biggest tourist draws in Australia's largest city, said New South Wales police.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed ordinary citizens, such as the man who tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen, as "heroes".

Police declared the shooting a "terrorist incident" and said they had found suspected "improvised explosive devices" in a vehicle near the beach that was linked to the deceased suspect.

"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," Albanese said.

"An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian," Albanese said.

The shooting took place during an annual "Hanukkah by the Sea" event at Bondi Beach which police said was attended by over a thousand people.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the shooting as a "cruel attack on Jews" and urged the Australian authorities to step up the fight against antisemitism.

And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Australia's government of having fuelled anti-Jewish sentiment in the period leading up to the shooting.

As gunfire erupted, crowds fled in fear from the beach in eastern Sydney, which draws huge numbers of surfers, swimmers and tourists, especially at weekends.

"We heard the shots. It was shocking, it felt like 10 minutes of just bang, bang, bang. It seemed like a powerful weapon," Camilo Diaz, a 25-year-old student from Chile, told AFP at the scene.

Emergency services first responded to reports of shots being fired at 6.47pm (3.47pm Singapore time).

"BLOOD EVERYWHERE"

One witness who declined to be named said he saw six dead or wounded people lying on the beach.

The grassy hill overlooking Bondi Beach was strewn with discarded items from people fleeing, including an abandoned children's stroller, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

Paramedics tended to wounded people lying on the grass, images broadcast by public broadcaster ABC showed.

A weapon that appeared to be a pump-action shotgun was lying by a tree by the beach.

A British tourist told AFP he saw "two shooters in black" after the gunfire broke out.

"There was a shooting, two shooters in black with semi-automatic rifles," Timothy Brant-Coles told AFP, saying he saw multiple people who had been shot and wounded.

ANTISEMITISM

A string of antisemitic attacks has spread fear among Jewish communities in Australia following the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.

The Australian government accused Iran of being behind two of the attacks, and expelled Tehran's ambassador nearly four months ago.

Tehran directed the torching of a kosher cafe in Sydney's Bondi suburb in October 2024, and a major arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024, the prime minister said in August, citing intelligence findings.

No injuries were reported in the two attacks.

The head of the Australian Jewish Association said the Bondi Beach shooting was a "tragedy but entirely foreseeable".

"The Albanese government was warned so many times but failed to take adequate actions to protect the Jewish community," Robert Gregory told AFP.

A leading Australian Muslim organisation condemned the shooting as "horrific".

"Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all those who witnessed or were affected by this deeply traumatic attack," the Australian National Imams Council said.

In April last year, a knife-wielding assailant killed six people at a shopping centre not far from Bondi Beach. The killer was found to have been suffering from schizophrenia but had stopped taking his medication, and no clear motive was identified.

In 2019, Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant killed 51 people and wounded dozens more when he attacked a mosque and Islamic centre in New Zealand's Christchurch, livestreaming the assault that was linked to white nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment.