By Kirsty Needham, Stella Qiu and Alasdair Pal
SYDNEY, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Ten people were killed and around a dozen wounded after two gunmen opened fire during a Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, Australian officials said.
One suspected gunman was dead and the other in a critical condition, while 11 injured people were taken to local hospitals, police in New South Wales state said. Two police officers were also among the injured.
Australia has experienced a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
Witnesses said the shooting at the famed beach on a hot summer’s evening lasted about 10 minutes, sending beachgoers scattering along the sand and into nearby streets and parks.
ISRAEL CRITICISES AUSTRALIA
“I was just getting ready to go home, and, like, I was packing my bag, got my flip-flops, was ready to catch my bus, and then I started hearing the shots,” said a witness who gave his name only as Marcus.
“We all panicked and started running as well. So we left everything behind, like flip-flops, everything. We just ran through the hill,” he said. “I must have heard, I don’t know, maybe, like, 40, 50 shots.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the incident “shocking and distressing”, adding that “emergency responders are on the ground and working to save lives”.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Jewish people who had gone to light the first candle of the Hanukkah holiday on the beach had been attacked by “vile terrorists”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar 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 ‘Globalise the Intifada’ that were realised today.”
One of the world’s most famous beaches, Bondi is typically crowded with locals and tourists.
“If we were targeted deliberately in this way, it’s something of a scale that none of us could have ever fathomed. It’s a horrific thing,” Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told Sky News, adding his media adviser had been wounded in the attack.
MASS SHOOTINGS RARE IN AUSTRALIA
Muslim groups condemned the shooting.
“These acts of violence and crimes have no place in our society. Those responsible must be held fully accountable and face the full force of the law,” the Australian National Imams Council, the Council of Imams NSW and the Australian Muslim community said in a statement.
“Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all those who witnessed or were affected by this deeply traumatic attack.”
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, one of the world’s safest countries. The death toll in Sunday’s attack makes it the worst such incident in the country since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people at a tourist site in the southern state of Tasmania.
Videos circulating on X appeared to show people on the beach and nearby park scattering as multiple gunshots and police sirens could be heard. One video showed a man dressed in a black shirt firing a large weapon before being tackled by a man in a white T-shirt who wrestled the weapon off him. Another man was seen firing a weapon from a pedestrian bridge.
Another video 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. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.
The attack came almost exactly 11 years after a lone gunman took 18 people hostage at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney. Two hostages and the gunman were killed after a 16-hour standoff.
“Australians are in deep mourning tonight, with hateful violence striking at the heart of an iconic Australian community, a place we all know so well and love, Bondi,” said Sussan Ley, the leader of Australia’s opposition Liberal Party.
(Reporting by Praveen Menon, Kirsty Needham, Stella Qiu, Cordelia Hsu; Additional reporting by Scott Murdoch and Pete Mckenzie in Sydney and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Writing by Alasdair Pal and Lincoln Feast; Editing by William Mallard)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.