A man with a bandaged head described the Bondi Beach shooting, calling it “a bloodbath” and “absolute massacre” as gunmen fired on several people, disrupting a Hanukkah celebration filled with families and children, leading to panic and chaos.
On Sunday, 14 December, gunmen opened fire during a Jewish holiday event at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing twelve, Reuters reported, citing Australian officials.
"I was here with my family, it was a Hanukkah celebration, there were hundreds of people, there were children, there were elderly, families enjoying themselves," he told Australian news portal 9News.
“Children, kids at a festival, playing and then all of a sudden it's absolute chaos. There's gunfire, everywhere, people ducking, it was absolute chaos. We didn't know what was happening, where the gunfire was coming from,” he added.
The unidentified man said that he had been living in Israel for the past 13 years and survived the October 7, 2023, attack in the region.
“October 7, that's the last time I saw this. I never thought I'd see this in Australia, not in my lifetime, on Bondi Beach of all places, this iconic place,” he said.
He mentioned that he arrived in Australia just two weeks ago “to work with the Jewish community, to fight antisemitism."
The man recalled that he saw one of the gunmen during the incident as people fell to the ground around him.
“I saw at least one gunman … firing randomly and in all directions. I saw children fall to the floor, I saw elderly, I saw invalids, it was an absolute bloodbath,” he was quoted as saying
He stated that his only worry was for his wife and children, who had managed to escape.
Bondi Beach mass shooting
Twelve individuals were killed in Australia’s deadly incident when gunmen opened fire on people during the celebrations of the first night of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday evening.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the shooting as a “targeted attack” on the Jewish community during a late-night press conference, according to a report by Bloomberg. He emphasised a strict crackdown on anti-Semitism, stating, “We will eradicate it.”
The report further noted that the New South Wales Police Commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said at a media conference that one gunman is dead and another is in critical condition in the hospital. He called the incident a terrorist attack. At least 29 individuals, including two police officers, were injured and taken to various hospitals in Sydney, Lanyon added.
Bondi has a large Jewish community and several synagogues. Jewish businesses and residents were targeted following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the report said.
(With inputs from agencies.)
