A father and son killed at least 15 people in Sydney, Australia, after open firing on a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi beach Sunday in what is being described as an act of antisemitic terrorism, officials reported.

“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach, that is associated with joy, associated with families gathering, associated with celebrations,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday. “It is forever tarnished by what has occurred.”

The shooting, the country’s deadliest in almost three decades, took the lives of at least 15 people between the ages of 10 and 87, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns stated to the press. At least 42 more people were being treated in the day after the attack, with many in critical condition.

The shooting targeted a celebration of the first night of Hanukkah at one of Australia’s most popular beaches.

One of the gunmen, a 50-year-old man, was reportedly fatally shot by police, the New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon stated. The other, a 24-year-old man, was wounded and is being treated at a hospital.

Authorities reported the pair of shooters were father and son. One gunman was known to security services, but the police commissioner said authorities had no indication of a planned attack.

The gunmen were not named by authorities as of early Monday in Australia, Sunday night in the U.S.’s eastern time zone. The victims were not officially named by Australian authorities either, though several names emerged through media outlets, as well as a French and an Israeli citizen confirmed by the countries.

The tragic massacre follows a wave of antisemitic attacks in Australia, including synagogues and cars torched, businesses and homes graffitied, and Jews attacked in Sydney and Melbourne, where 85% of the country’s Jewish population lives.

Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism reported in July an over threefold surge in antisemitic incidents in July after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel and start of the war in Gaza.

Albanese said the violence would be met with “a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith.”

Hundreds gathered at Bondi beach for the Chanukah by the Sea event Sunday celebrating the start of the eight days of Hanukkah. The event featured face painting and a petting zoo before the shooting began.

At about 6:45 p.m. local time, emergency services responded to reports of shots fired, police said.

The massacre was captured on videos, two men in black shirts firing long guns from a footbridge leading to the beach and people running from the water.

One clip broadcast on Australian television shows a man appearing to tackle and disarm one gunman, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground. The man was identified by relatives to Australian media as fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed, and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns called him a “genuine hero.”

A woman named Larisa Kleytman told reporters with The Australian newspaper outside St Vincent’s Hospital her husband, Alexander Kleytman, was among the dead, and both were Holocaust survivors.

The Orthodox Jewish movement organization Chabad, which sponsors events during Jewish holidays, said Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the event, was among the dead.

In Massachusetts, public officials and Jewish community leaders solemnly marked the tragedy at Hannukah gatherings Sunday. Gov. Maura Healey said Sunday she was “heartbroken for the families in Sydney” and praying for the victims.

“To Jewish families in Massachusetts and around the world: you are not alone in your grief or fear,” Healey said. “We will continue to stand with you and be clear that antisemitism and violence have no place here. And we will not let this darkness dim the light of Hanukkah.”

The governor and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu attended the Central Synagogue Boston’s Menorah Lighting in Copley Square and Chabad of Downtown Boston’s Menorah Lighting in Boston Common on Sunday.

Rabbi Marc Baker, CEO of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, said “after two excruciating years, we had hoped to light these candles with more joy and more lightness of being.”

“It’s a reminder of the hatred and the violence and the anti-semitism that not only threatens physical lives, but that threatens us spiritually and culturally,” said Baker. “I think many in our community, when something like this happens, first of all, have that community in our hearts and minds, and secondly, wonder if it’s safe for us to gather here in Boston and to light our candles and to leave our homes as proud, joyful Jews.”

The rabbi noted the organization’s community Security Initiative, which stays in contact with law enforcement and security officials across the country.

Jewish Community Relations Council CEO Jeremy Burton said though people were shocked and angry around Boston on Sunday, the tragedy also felt “all too familiar and all too common at this point.” But Burton noted an “incredible sense of determination” within the community.

“I just returned from Boston Common where a number of people came up to me and just said things like, ‘I was planning on hanging out at home on a cold winter night, and I just knew I had to be out and about tonight; I had to be with other people,’” said Burton.

The presence of leaders like Healey, Wu, city councilors and police leadership is also a “clear message that our community is not alone, and that our civic leadership is determined to stand by the community,” Burton said.

The tragedy in Australia “feel very close to home,” Burton said, noting that in the “small, interwoven community” he knows one victim who was shot but survived.

At Sunday’s events though, Baker said, there was “spirit of resilience and joy and a fierce commitment not to dim our lights In the face of those who try to extinguish them.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Women place flowers at a memorial outside Bondi Pavilion at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, a day after a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)