Two gunmen shot dead at least 15 people on Sunday at a Hanukkah event being held at Sydney’s Bondi Beach to mark the first night of the Jewish holiday, Australian authorities said, in one of the deadliest attacks targeting Jews outside Israel in decades and the worst on Jews abroad since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.

Jewish leaders in Australia and Israeli officials described the deadly shooting as an outgrowth of rising antisemitism globally since October 7, 2023, with many accusing the Australian government of doing too little to protect the country’s Jewish community.

Australian officials declared the incident a terror attack, and the country’s prime minister vowed to “eradicate” antisemitism.

Among those killed was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement who had worked there for 18 years, according to Chabad sources.

Authorities initially said on Sunday that 11 had been killed and 29 wounded, including two police officers. But Ryan Park, the health minister for the New South Wales state, where Sydney is located, told media on Monday morning that 16 people had died, including a child who had died of their wounds in a hospital, and that the number of wounded was “around 38.”

The death toll included the dead gunman, meaning the update brought the number of victims killed to 15.

The scene unfolded late Sunday afternoon as two men in black opened fire at the famed beach, with footage showing dramatic scenes of people scattering along the sand and into nearby streets and parks.

Eyewitnesses said they heard around 50 shots as the shooting went on for around 10 minutes.

The attack occurred as hundreds were gathered at a playground next to the beach for an event called Chanukah by the Sea, celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah holiday.

“This attack was designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community,” said New South Wales Premier Chris Minns.

Police said the event had drawn more than 1,000 people. It was advertised as having live entertainment, food for purchase and games for children, all culminating in a grand menorah lighting.

Haim Levy told Israel’s Channel 12 news that he had been sitting with his wife, son and daughter at Bondi Beach when the shooting started.

“It was immediately clear that something [terrible] was happening,” he said. The three ran for cover, hiding behind cars in a parking lot as bullets whizzed overhead. Levy said he tried to keep his two-year-old son quiet as they hid, for fear the terrorists would hear and come to kill them. “Thank God we survived, when bullets were flying in all directions… It seemed never-ending.”

One gunman was killed and a second was taken into custody in serious condition, authorities said.

Dramatic footage, apparently filmed by a member of the public and broadcast on Australian television channels, showed someone appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the attacker’s weapon at him. In the footage, a second person can be seen standing on a bridge and firing at people hiding between cars.

Another video captured from the air appeared to show the moment one of the gunmen on the bridge was shot. Footage also showed two men pressed onto the ground by uniformed police on a small pedestrian bridge. Officers could be seen trying to resuscitate one of the men. The footage could not be immediately verified.

Drone footage of the gunmen being taken out. #bondi #bondibeach #australia

— Ramzan Baloch (@BalochRamzan2) December 14, 2025

Police said their operation was “ongoing” and that a “number of suspicious items located in the vicinity” were being examined by specialist officers, including an improvised explosive device found in one of the suspects’ cars. Emergency services were called to Campbell Parade about 6:45 p.m., responding to reports of shots being fired.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra that he was “devastated” by the massacre.

“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. “There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation.”

Albanese said the authorities were working to identify everyone involved in the attack.

“Amidst this vile act of violence and hate will emerge a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith,” he said. “The evil that was unleashed at Bondi Beach today is beyond comprehension, and the trauma and loss that families are dealing with tonight is beyond anyone’s worst nightmare.”

Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, said the attack would likely lead to a mass exodus of Australian Jews, many of whom had already been considering leaving the country.

“This may be the worst attack on Jews anywhere in the world since October 7, and it’s the second-worst mass shooting in Australian history,” he said. “I don’t know what happens now.”

Australian Jews have experienced a surge of antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, including protests that police said included antisemitic rhetoric and arson attacks that police accused Iran of directing.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others accused the Australian government of failing to rein in rising antisemitism, with some tying the attack to Canberra’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state in September.

Albanese’s policies encourage “the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets,” Netanyahu said hours after the attack, paraphrasing from a letter he said he sent Albanese earlier this year. “Antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent. You must replace weakness with action.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he was appalled by the shooting and that Australia’s government must “come to its senses” after countless warnings.

“These are the results of the antisemitic rampage in the streets of Australia over the past two years, with the antisemitic and inciting calls of ‘Globalize the Intifada’ that were realised today,” he wrote in English on X.

Arsen Ostrovsky, a lawyer and pro-Israel advocate who moved to Australia weeks ago, was grazed by a bullet during the attack. Speaking to local news with his bandaged face still covered in blood, Ostrovsky described what he called a “bloodbath” reminiscent of the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.

“There were hundreds of people. There were children, there were elderly. Families enjoying themselves. Children, kids, at a festival, playing. Then all of a sudden, it’s absolute chaos,” he said. “There’s guns, fire everywhere, people ducking. It was absolute chaos.”

“We’re going to get through this, and we’re going to get the bastards that did this,” he added.

The event that was targeted was sponsored by Chabad and was advertised as also being sponsored by Chabad for Israelis — a synagogue and community designed for Israelis living in the area — and the Waverly Council, the local government office that manages events at the beach.

Chabad is known for its public menorahs, which the movement said were erected in roughly 15,000 locations around the world last year. While some of the public menorahs have experienced vandalism in the past, this is the first known deadly attack on a public menorah lighting.

Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was born in England, had recently held an event to memorialize Chabad emissaries murdered elsewhere, including in a 2008 attack on Chabad of Mumbai in India, according to Chabad sources. He also shared two months ago on Facebook that he and his wife had welcomed a baby boy.