Arya News - At least 11 people were shot and killed Sunday in a targeted attack on a Jewish holiday celebration, to mark the start of Hanukkah, in Australia`s Bondi Beach.
Eleven people are dead after gunmen targeted the attendees of a Jewish community event on Sunday in Australia"s Bondi Beach. Another 29 people were hospitalized with injuries, including a child and two officers, according to police. One suspected gunman was also killed. He was identified as Naveed Akram, 24, a Pakistani national based in Sydney, according to a U.S. intelligence briefing and a driver"s license provided by Australian police.
Australian officials and international leaders have condemned it as an antisemitic terrorist attack.
Police said they expect the death toll to climb. Here is what we know so far.
Gunfire broke out at a Hanukkah celebration
The attack took place during a Jewish holiday celebration held to mark the first day of Hanukkah. More than 1,000 people were on the beach, in a suburb of Sydney, when shots rang out, said New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, who officially declared the shooting a "terrorist incident."
Numerous Australian officials have characterized the shooting as targeted. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said it "was designed to target Sydney"s Jewish community."
"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," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a news conference.
Video footage recorded by civilians showed frightened crowds of beachgoers fleeing the area as gunshots went off in the background.
At least two suspects
Australian authorities have said at least two gunmen were suspected of carrying out the deadly mass shooting, a rare occurrence in a country where gun violence is uncommon.
Lanyon said the deceased suspect was previously known to the New South Wales police force. In addition to the gunman killed at the scene of the attack, another was hospitalized with serious injuries, he said. The surviving gunman has been taken into custody. The commissioner also said officers were investigating whether a "third offender" was involved.
A man has been lauded as a hero and praised by the police commissioner for tackling one suspect and disarming him in dramatic video footage recorded by a bystander along Campbell Parade, a main street that wraps around Bondi Beach. In the footage, the man could be seen crouched in hiding behind a parked car before wrestling the suspect and taking his weapon.
Officers found explosive devices
Shortly after the shooting took place, officers who responded to the scene discovered a vehicle along Campbell Parade and believed there were several improvised explosive devices inside of it, Lanyon said. The vehicle was linked to the deceased gunman, according to the police commissioner. A rescue bomb disposal crew was at the scene.
Rising antisemitism in Australia
Although Australia rarely experiences mass shootings, after implementing stringent gun reform laws in the wake of a deadly 1996 massacre in Tasmania"s Port Arthur, antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in the country since the war in Gaza began in 2023.
The Australian government appointed special envoys in 2024 to address spiking antisemitism, as well as Islamophobia, in its communities. But attacks still happened this year. One, in July, involved an arsonist who set fire to the door of a synagogue in Melbourne, while worshippers were inside.
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