On 14 December 2025, a terrorist mass shooting occurred at Archer Park beside Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, in the late afternoon during a Hanukkah celebration attended by approximately one thousand people. Two gunmen shot at the crowd, killing 15 people, including a child. Police and Australian intelligence agencies declared it an Islamic State–linked terrorist incident. Numerous world leaders, news outlets, and Australian authorities said the shooting was motivated by antisemitism.

New South Wales Police Force killed one perpetrator and took the other, critically injured, into custody. Police said the alleged gunmen were father and son. Forty people, including at least two police officers, were injured and taken to various hospitals. The police later found and removed a suspected homemade bomb from a car belonging to one of the shooters. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said it was a deliberate attack on Jewish people during the first day of Hanukkah.

The shooting is Australia's deadliest terror incident and its second-deadliest mass shooting in modern history after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, which led to the country having some of the strictest gun laws in the world.

Background Bondi Beach is one of Australia's most popular seaside areas. It is located in Sydney's eastern suburbs; this area is known as the centre of the Jewish community of Sydney, which in turn is one of the two largest Jewish communities in Australia (the other being in Melbourne).[6] The Bondi area of Sydney had experienced recent heightened security concerns due to the unrelated Bondi Junction stabbings in April 2024.[7][8]

Australia had experienced an increase in attacks on Jewish communities and individuals since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023.[9][10] In August 2024, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) lifted Australia's national terrorism threat level from "possible" to "probable", citing the risk of community tensions and political violence related to the Gaza war as one of the reasons for doing so.[11][12]

The incident took place at an annual Chabad community event ("Chanukah by the Sea"), to celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah.[13][14] The event was being held at Archer Park just east of the Bondi Pavilion, and some 1,000 people were attending.[1]

Australia had some of the strictest gun laws in the world enacted after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.[15] Assault rifles and many semiautomatic rifles were banned.[16] Despite this, the number of firearms in Australia, and the number of people licensed to own them, has increased since then. In New South Wales, the state where the Bondi Beach shooting took place, there were 260,000 gun licences in 2025, up from 181,000 in 2001.[17][18]

Attack

In a prologue to the mass shooting, a Russian-Jewish couple, who had noticed an Islamic State flag displayed on the attackers' vehicle while walking along Campbell Parade, attempted to stop them. The husband seized the elder attacker's gun after the latter exited his car, resulting in a struggle that the wife joined, but the attacker retrieved another gun and shot them dead.[19][20]

Initial videos of the mass shooting showed two men dressed in black tops firing on the crowd from a footbridge striding the carpark to the north of the Bondi Pavilion,[21][22] reportedly with at least one bolt action rifle.[23] Emergency services were first called to the scene at 18:47 (AEDT, UTC+11).[24] New South Wales Police released a statement at 18:57 confirming their response to an ongoing incident.[25]

One of the shooters appeared to be waving away bystanders before resuming fire at the Jewish gathering.[26][better source needed]

A bystander began capturing a nearly continuous 11-minute video shortly after the gunmen opened fire, filming from approximately 50 metres (160 ft) away. Ultimately it captured the first police officer stepping onto the pedestrian bridge as well as wounded festival-goers being treated.[1]

The older gunman, while aiming down his sights and firing from a side of Archer Park, was briefly disarmed by an unarmed male named Ahmed al-Ahmed, who had been crouching behind two parked cars.[27][28][29][30] After approaching from between two parked cars, he tackled the gunman from behind, seized his weapon and turned it on him.[31] The shooter retreated to the bridge where the younger gunman was positioned. As he did so, Reuven Morrison charged the scene and was killed while throwing bricks in another attempt to disrupt the attack.[19]

A police officer then arrived and, using a tree as cover, fired on the gunmen.[32] Both gunmen were hit by police gunfire, and another bystander went onto the bridge and kicked away a weapon from one of the gunmen; continued fire forced him to duck, and he was briefly mistaken for an attacker by bystanders.[33]

One of the attackers was shot dead by police, with the other being apprehended and rushed to hospital in critical condition under police guard.[21][34][35] They had fired a total of 103 rounds.[36]

As the attack took place next to the Bondi Surf Lifesaving Club, lifeguards celebrating the holidays rushed to the aid of the victims –such was the immediacy of their response that some ran in under fire. Virtually all of the first aid supplies of the clubhouse were used.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Bondi_Beach_shooting