The death toll from a shooting targeting a Jewish community celebrating the first day of Hanukkah on Australia’s Bondi Beach has risen to 16, with at least 40 people still hospitalized.
New South Wales (NSW) Police confirmed this on Monday. “Police confirm that 16 people have died and 40 are hospitalized following a shooting in Bondi yesterday. More information will be provided soon,” NSW Police said in a post on Twitter.
According to CNN, a representative of the Jewish community has confirmed that a 12-year-old girl and a rabbi were among the dead.
Authorities have further stated that the area around Bondi Beach will remain sealed as the investigation continues and additional restrictions have been imposed on aerial activities at the location.
“Bondi Beach and surrounding roads in the Bondi area will be closed today as investigators continue to work at the crime scene. No aircraft, including drones, are allowed to fly over the crime scene,” police said in a separate post on X.
The attack, which specifically targeted the Jewish community, occurred as hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah and has been officially declared a terrorist attack.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, while addressing the nation after the mass shooting incident, strongly condemned it. He described the incident as a “terrible terrorist attack” and expressed solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community.
He said the incident was “a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the day before Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith, but this is a vicious act, of anti-Semitism, of terrorism that has struck at the heart of our nation.”
He further said, “There is no place for this hatred, violence and terrorism in our country.”
The two suspects involved in a deadly shooting in Australia’s Bondi Beach were a father and his son, according to New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon.
Speaking at a press conference, Lanyon said the 50-year-old father was shot dead by police at the scene, while the 24-year-old son is currently hospitalized in a serious but stable condition.
Officials also confirmed that explosive devices found in a nearby vehicle were safely seized and removed by authorities.
There have been very few mass shootings in Australia since stricter gun laws were implemented in 1996 following the Port Arthur massacre. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, there were 31 cases of gun homicide recorded in 2023-24, according to the latest data available.
