SYDNEY: Sixteen people were killed and at least 40 others injured in a shooting at a Jewish festival celebration at Australia’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, in what Australian officials described as a targeted antisemitic attack.
One of the suspected gunmen was also killed. A second gunman was in critical condition and police were investigating whether a third attacker was involved, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told a press conference.“Police can confirm 16 people have died and 40 people remain in hospital” following the shooting at Bondi, police in New South Wales posted on X. However, the police statement did not specify whether the toll included one of the shooters, who died in the attack.
Emergency responders rushed people to local hospitals from the beach, one of the biggest tourist draws in Australia’s largest city, said New South Wales police. One of the shooters was killed, and the second was in a critical condition, they added.
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.
Australians hailed a “hero” whose daring struggle with a gunman led to the disarming of an attacker during the country’s worst mass shooting in years.
He even earned a shout-out from US President Donald Trump, who said the man´s brave actions “saved a lot of lives” during a shocking assault on a Jewish gathering to celebrate Hanukkah.
Following the deadly shooting on Sydney´s Bondi Beach, footage emerged on social media of a man risking his own life by grabbing one of the gunmen as he fired on people who were out of view of the recording.
The man then wrestles the gun out of the attacker´s hand, before pointing the weapon at the assailant who backs away.
Local outlet 7News identified him as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a fruit seller, and reported he had suffered two gunshot wounds. The outlet spoke to a man called Mustapha who said he was his cousin.
”He´s in hospital and we don´t know exactly what´s going on inside,” he said.
”We do hope he will be fine. He´s a hero 100 percent,” he said.
The startling footage of the encounter has gone viral, and Ahmed was feted online for his bravery and lifesaving quick thinking, with many people saying he likely saved several lives.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed him and others as “heroes”, as did Premier Chris Minns of New South Wales, the state where Bondi Beach is located.
“In all of this evil, in all of this sadness, there are still wonderful, brave Australians that are prepared to risk their lives to help a complete stranger,” Minns told a press briefing late Sunday.
At the White House, Trump offered his own praise and “great respect” for the man who disarmed a gunman. “It´s been a very, very brave person, actually, who went and attacked frontally one of the shooters, and saved a lot of lives,” the American president said, adding the man “is right now in the hospital, pretty seriously wounded.”
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.
A major Australian Muslim organisation condemned Sunday’s “horrific” shooting, Alarabia English reported. “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 a statement. “This is a moment for all Australians, including the Australian Muslim community, to stand together in unity, compassion and solidarity,” they added.
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 6:47 pm (0747 GMT).
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.
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.
The United States “strongly condemns the terrorist attack” that left 11 people dead at the Jewish festival of Hanukkah in Sydney, Australia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday.
“Antisemitism has no place in this world. Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia,” Rubio said in a post on X.
The Iranian foreign ministry Sunday denounced the violent attack targeting a Jewish celebration and killing 11 people. “We condemn the violent attack in Sydney, Australia. Terror and killing of human beings, wherever committed, is rejected and condemned,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on X. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was “shocked” at what she condemned as an “appalling act of violence”. She added in a post to X: “Europe stands with Australia and Jewish communities everywhere. We are united against violence, antisemitism and hatred.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer lamented what he described as the “deeply distressing news from Australia. “The United Kingdom sends our thoughts and condolences to everyone affected by the appalling attack in Bondi beach,” he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack and vowed that France would “fight relentlessly against antisemitic hatred.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on X she felt “profound grief regarding the dramatic news arriving from Sydney. “By once again firmly condemning all forms of violence and anti-semitism, Italy expresses its own condolences for the victims,” she added.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, also in a post to X, said: “I am deeply shocked by the terrorist attack in Sydney -- an act of hatred directed against all Jews worldwide on the first day of Hanukkah. “My thoughts are with the families of those murdered, the injured and the Jewish community,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X that his country “stands in solidarity with Australia in the face of the brutal terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, Sydney, which targeted the Jewish community. “Terror and hatred must never prevail - they must be defeated everywhere and every time,” he said.
APP reports: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Sunday expressed his condolences to the victims of Bondi Beach attack.
In a post on X, he said, “My deepest condolences to the victims of the tragic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, Sydney. Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We stand in solidarity with the people and government of Australia in this difficult time.”
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed sorrow over the tragic shooting. “The president conveyed condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to those injured, including police personnel hurt while responding to the incident,” President Secretariat Media Wing said in a press release.
President Zardari said Pakistan, having itself suffered greatly from terrorism, fully understood the pain and trauma such attacks inflict on societies. He condemned violence against innocent civilians and expressed solidarity with the people and Government of Australia at this difficult time, reiterating Pakistan’s principled stance against terrorism in all its forms.
