15 Dead, Dozens Injured in Mass Shooting at Jewish Event in Australia

Monday, 15 December 2025 12:30 AM 

At least 15 people have been killed and dozens of others injured when two gunmen opened fire at a Jewish event in the Australian city of Sydney on Sunday.

Authorities said police fatally shot one gunman, and the second was arrested and is in critical condition.

At least 29 people were confirmed wounded, including two police officers, said Mal Lanyon, the police commissioner for New South Wales state, to which Sydney is the capital.

Lanyon said police had found what they believed to be several improvised explosive devices in a nearby vehicle linked to the suspect who was killed.

He said police are continuing to investigate the shooting, while emergency services remain on high alert in the area.

Witnesses to the shooting described scenes of chaos as the gunmen opened fire on crowds gathered at Bondi Beach. One witness said he heard 40 to 50 shots.

The mass shooting came as hundreds of people had gathered at Sydney’s Bondi Beach for an event called Chanukah by the Sea, celebrating the start of the Jewish festival.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the scenes at Bondi “shocking and distressing,” adding, “There is no place for this hate, violence, and terrorism in our nation.”

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

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack on social media, calling it “heinous” and expressing solidarity with the Jewish community.

“My heart is with the Jewish community worldwide on this first day of Hanukkah,” he wrote.

Israeli leaders “loudly blamed” the Australian government for ignoring warnings of what they called antisemitic threats.

In a speech at an event in al-Quds, Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the shooting as a “very cruel attack on Jews who went to light the first candle of Hanukkah on Bondi Beach.”

Emergency services workers gather at the scene after a shooting incident at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025. (AFP)

He called on Australia to “fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society.”

Tel Aviv, however, has offered little condolence to Australia’s Jewish community.

Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures.

French President Emmanuel Macron also condemned the shooting in an English message on X, saying that France “extends its thoughts to the victims, the injured and their loved ones.”

Australia has seen widespread outrage over Israel’s two-year genocide against the Palestinian people, with major protests in cities across the country since October 2023.

Demonstrators have voiced anger over civilian casualties, destruction of homes, and the regime’s ongoing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Social media and local reports indicate that public sentiment has increasingly reflected outrage over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with protesters demanding that the Australian government condemn the Israeli regime’s genocide and halt arms sales to Tel Aviv.