At least 15 people have died and 27 seven are still in hospital following a deadly shooting attack on a Hanukkah gathering at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Six of the injured are listed in critical condition and another six are declared critical but stable. The two shooting suspects have been identified as Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24.
Sajid Akram was fatally shot by police at the scene. His son was critically injured and remains under police guard in hospital. Authorities said charges will be filed if he survives. According to New South Wales Police Commissioner Malcolm Lanyon said the elder Akram legally possessed firearms and was known to police, though investigators had no information that would have led them to suspect an imminent attack. Six weapons linked to him were recovered and are believed to have been used.
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Officials said the shooting marked the deadliest antisemitic attack outside Israel in decades and the most lethal assault on Jews abroad since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Those killed included Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a 41-year-old assistant rabbi with Chabad of Bondi and the father of five children; Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman; French citizen Daniel Elkayam; 10-year-old Matilda; and 78-year-old Tibor Weitzen. New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park said a 12-year-old child was also among the victims. Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that at least one Israeli citizen was killed, while the Chabad-Lubavitch movement reported that several of its emissaries were wounded.