The 50-year-old father was killed at the scene, bringing the death toll to 16, while his 24-year-old son remains in critical condition in hospital, police said during a Monday press briefing. Officials have described the Sunday shooting as a deliberate antisemitic attack.
At least 40 people are still hospitalized, including two police officers in serious but stable condition. The victims ranged in age from 10 to 87.
Witnesses reported that the attack, which unfolded over roughly 10 minutes on a busy evening at the popular beach, caused panic as hundreds of people fled across the sand and into surrounding streets and parks.
Police noted that around 1,000 attendees had gathered for the Hanukkah event, which was held in a small park adjacent to Bondi Beach.
A bystander captured on video tackling and disarming an armed man during the attack has been hailed as a hero whose actions saved lives.
Bondi local Morgan Gabriel, 27, said she had been heading to a nearby cinema when she heard what she thought were fireworks, before people started running up her street.
“I sheltered about six or seven. Two of them were actually my close friends, and the rest were just people that were on the street. But people, their phones had been left down the beach, and everyone was just trying to get away,” she said.
“It’s a very sad time this morning… Normally, like on a Monday or any morning, it’s packed. People are swimming, surfing, running. So this is very, very quiet. And there’s definitely a solemn sort of vibe.”
World leaders condemn attack
Authorities said they were confident only two attackers were involved in the incident, after previously saying they were checking whether a third offender was involved.
Police investigations are ongoing, and police numbers have been increased in Jewish communities.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Bondi Beach on Monday morning and laid flowers near the scene of the attack, while some mourners wearing kippah, or skullcaps worn by some Jewish men, were seen placing candles and setting up tribute sites.
Albanese earlier called the attack a “dark moment for our nation,” and said police and security agencies were thoroughly checking the motive behind the attack.
“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location,” Albanese told reporters.
“The Jewish community are hurting today. Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out antisemitism. It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together.”
Albanese said several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, had reached out, and he thanked them for their solidarity.
“In Australia, there was a terrible attack … and that was an antisemitic attack obviously,” Trump said during a Christmas reception at the White House on Sunday, paying his respects to victims of the attack at Bondi and another shooting at Rhode Island’s Brown University.
Sunday’s shootings were the most serious in a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had warned Albanese that Australia’s support for Palestinian statehood would fuel antisemitism.
Saw bodies on the ground
Hundreds of police personnel were at Bondi Beach on Monday as the suburb’s main road remained closed after being declared a crime scene.
Rabbi Mendel Kastel, whose brother-in-law Eli Schlanger was killed in Sunday’s attack, said it had been a harrowing evening.
“You can very easily become very angry and try to blame people, turn on people but that’s not what this is about. It’s about a community,” he said.
“We need to step up at a time like this, be there for each other, and come together. And we will, and we will get through this, and we know that. The Australian community will help us do it,” he added.
Local woman Danielle, who declined to give her surname, was at the beach when the shooting occurred and raced to collect her daughter, who was attending a bar mitzvah at a function centre near where the alleged shooters were positioned.
“I heard there was a shooting so I bolted there to get my daughter, I could hear gunshots, I saw bodies on the ground.
We are used to being scared, we have felt this way since October 7.”
Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
The attack precipitated Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
Australia’s Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about 150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including Bondi.
Major cities, including Berlin, London and New York, stepped up security around Hanukkah events on Sunday following the attack at Bondi.
President, PM slam Sydney attack
In the wake of the attack, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences to the victims.
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’s 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.
