Australian authorities are investigating a shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 people dead during a Jewish festival, as the government considers stricter gun laws following the incident.
Officials said a father and son carried out the attack during a Hanukkah event attended by hundreds marking the first day of the Jewish holiday. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese classified the incident as an act of antisemitic terrorism.
The 50-year-old father, who was killed, arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa and was an Australian resident at the time of his death, authorities said. Officials did not disclose his country of origin. His 24-year-old son, an Australian-born citizen, was wounded and is undergoing treatment in hospital.
Police said those killed included a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor. Several others were injured.
Albanese said the Australian Security Intelligence Agency had investigated the son for six months in 2019. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the investigation examined potential links to a Sydney-based Islamic State cell. Albanese said the agency’s focus at the time was on associates rather than the son.
Police said the father held a firearms licence and was a member of a gun club.
Footage broadcast on Australian television showed a bystander intervening and disarming one of the gunmen. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke identified the individual as Ahmed al Ahmed, a 42-year-old fruit shop owner, who was later shot in the shoulder by the second gunman and survived.
The attack occurred amid an increase in antisemitic incidents in Australia over the past year. The country has a population of about 28 million, including approximately 117,000 Jews, most of whom live in Sydney and Melbourne.
Government data cited by the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, showed antisemitic incidents rose more than threefold in the year following the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent military operations in Gaza.
In recent years, synagogues, vehicles and properties in major cities have been targeted, and individuals have been assaulted. Albanese previously said Iran was responsible for two such attacks and announced the suspension of diplomatic ties with Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged Australia to take stronger action against antisemitism and criticised Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
The Bondi Beach incident is the deadliest shooting in Australia in three decades. Australia introduced strict gun control measures after a 1996 mass shooting in Port Arthur, Tasmania, where 35 people were killed.
Since then, mass shootings have been rare. Notable incidents include murder-suicides in 2014 and 2018 and a 2022 shooting involving police and extremists in Queensland that resulted in six deaths.
Albanese said the government is moving toward tougher gun regulations following the attack.