2025 Bondi Beach shooting


On 14 December 2025, an antisemitic Islamic State -inspired terrorist attack occurred at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, during a celebration of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah attended by around 1,000 people.
Beginning at 6:42pm, two gunmen, allegedly Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, killed a total of 15 people including 11 men, 3 women and a 10-year-old girl. Sajid Akram was shot dead by police; his son was treated for wounds at a local hospital and survived.
Four people confronted the gunmen, attempting to foil the attack. Three were killed and one suffered gunshot wounds. Volunteer surf lifesavers and Waverly Council lifeguards rushed to the scene to provide first aid during the active shooting. Members of the New South Wales Police Force shot the two alleged gunmen, killing Sajid Akram and critically injuring Naveed Akram, who was detained. Forty people, including at least two police officers, were injured and taken to various hospitals. Four homemade bombs were thrown into the crowd but failed to detonate. Another homemade bomb was found in a car belonging to one of the shooters.
Numerous world leaders, news outlets and Australian authorities declared that the shooting was motivated by antisemitism. The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the shooting was "deliberately targeted at the Jewish community on the first day of Chanukah". Police charged Naveed Akram with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder. The ongoing investigation by the federal and New South Wales police forces is named "Operation Arques". A federal royal commission will examine the circumstances surrounding the attack. A federal review into federal agencies that had begun, before the decision to hold a royal commission had been made, will become part of the commission.
The Bondi shooting is the first fatal attack on Jews in Australia. It is the second-deadliest mass shooting in modern Australian history. Mass casualty attacks are uncommon in Australia; the country enacted strict gun laws in response to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in which 35 people were killed. Following the Bondi Beach shooting, the National Cabinet unanimously agreed to further restrict gun laws and introduce a gun buyback program. The attack led to changes to hate speech laws and was marked by a national day of reflection and a national day of mourning.

Background

The December 2025 attack in Bondi was the first deadly attack targeting Jews in Australia. Prior to this incident, the Australian Jewish community experienced an increase in antisemitic attacks on Jewish individuals and institutions since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023. The shooting targeted an annual community Hanukkah celebration organised by Chabad named "Chanukah by the Sea". The event was held at Archer Park just east of the Bondi Pavilion, with around 1,000 people in attendance.
Australia's gun laws include restrictions on automatic, semi-automatic and pump action rifles, as well as shotguns, which were introduced after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. Despite this, the number of firearms in Australia, and the number of people licensed to own them, has increased, and hit "a record high" before the shootings. In New South Wales, where the Bondi Beach shooting took place, there were 260,000 gun licences in 2025, up from 181,000 in 2001.
Extretmist groups have risen in Australia over the past decade including neonazi groups'' such as the National Socialist Network.
In August 2024, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation raised 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.
The style of the attack resembles other Islamic State attacks on Jewish and Christian targets but Islamic State has not previously focused on the Palestine conflict with Israel.

Islamic State supporters in Sydney

As a teenager, Naveed Akram followed radical Islamic preacher William Haddad, who was found to have violated Australia's racial hatred laws in 2025. Dakkak was the first person convicted of "guilt by association" to other IS members. Despite these connections, authorities concluded Naveed Akram was not a high-risk member of this network.

Attack

Police allege that Sajid and Naveed Akram, a father and his son, threw three pipe bombs and a tennis ball bomb into the crowd from a footbridge arching over the carpark to the north of the Bondi Pavilion, all of which failed to detonate. After throwing the bombs, they began shooting into the crowd. Initial videos of the attack showed two men dressed in black tops firing on the crowd from the footbridge, reportedly with a straight pull bolt action rifle and a shotgun. Emergency services were first called to the scene at 18:47. New South Wales Police released a statement at 18:57 confirming their response to an ongoing incident.

Timeline

The younger gunman paused and appeared to wave away bystanders approaching him from directions other than that of the Hanukkah celebration, before resuming fire at the Jewish gathering.
A bystander began capturing a nearly continuous 11-minute video shortly after the gunmen opened fire, filming the attackers from the street side of the footbridge approximately away. The video captured the final moments of the shooting including the first police officer stepping onto the footbridge to apprehend the gunmen, as well as the treating of wounded people.
Several police officers used their pistols to shoot at the gunmen from both sides of the footbridge. A detective, using a tree as cover approximately away, fired on the gunmen from behind, killing Sajid with a fatal shot to the head. The detective, and also a female officer, are believed to have shot at Naveed and both wounded him in the stomach. A bystander went onto the bridge and kicked away a weapon from one of the gunmen; continued fire forced him to duck, and the bystander was briefly mistaken for an attacker by other bystanders. The attack had lasted for six minutes from 18:42 to 18:48.
According to The Guardian, the first thing police did when they reached the footbridge was give CPR to Naveed. The wounded Naveed was apprehended by police and rushed to hospital in critical condition. The gunmen had fired about 83 rounds, with approximately 20 additional rounds fired by police.
More than 123 ambulance personnel attended the scene.

Civilian intervention

Numerous acts of intervention by civilians were exhibited during the attack.
Prior to the start of the attack, Boris and Sofia Gurman, a Russian-Jewish Australian couple, noticed an Islamic State flag displayed on a parked vehicle. Sajid exited the vehicle, at which point the Gurmans struggled with him, seizing his gun. Sajid then retrieved another rifle and shot them both dead.
During the attack itself, Ahmed al-Ahmed, an unarmed 43-year-old Syrian Australian Muslim and father of two born in Al-Nayrab, Syria, disarmed Sajid. Al-Ahmed approached him by crouching between two parked cars. He approached the gunman from behind, seized the weapon, and turned it toward Sajid before propping the weapon against a tree. Sajid then retreated to the bridge, where one of the gunmen shot and wounded al-Ahmed twice.
After reaching a safe place, Gefen Bitton ran back toward the gunfire after seeing al-Ahmed confront Sajid. While doing this, he was shot several times and was critically injured.
Reuven Morrison charged Sajid as he retreated, throwing a brick and attempting to disrupt the attack. A gunman shot and killed him.
In addition to those who directly confronted the gunmen, off-duty volunteer lifesavers from Bondi Surf Lifesaving Club and North Bondi Surf Lifesaving Club, immediately adjacent to Archer Park, rushed to the aid of victims under fire at the risk to their own lives. They were on the scene before ambulance crews arrived. They used surfboards as stretchers and depleted the club's stock of bandages, as well as giving approximately 250 people shelter inside the club, including a heavily pregnant woman who went into labour during the attack. There was also one water rescue.
New South Wales Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane was among those present who helped surf lifesavers giving first aid to victims.

Casualties

Sixteen people were killed in the attack, with fourteen having died at the scene and two in a hospital. Forty people were injured and taken to a hospital, including the other alleged gunman, Naveed Akram, with five people in critical condition., five people remained in hospital in Sydney.

List of victims killed

The fifteen victims killed in the shooting were:
  • Edith Brutman, 68, vice president of B'nai B'rith NSW anti-prejudice and anti-discrimination committee
  • Dan Elkayam, 27, a French national who played for Rockdale Ilinden FC and worked in Sydney as an IT analyst for NBCUniversal
  • Boris, 69, and Sofia Gurman, 61, who disarmed the older gunman on his arrival but were killed with another rifle
  • Alex Kleytman, 87, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Australia from Ukraine and worked as a civil engineer
  • Yaakov Levitan, 39, a South African–born rabbi who was secretary of Sydney Beth Din
  • Peter Meagher, 61, retired police detective and Randwick DRUFC manager who was hired as a freelance photographer at Chanukah by the Sea
  • Reuven Morrison, 62, a Soviet–born businessman who threw an object at the older gunman before being killed
  • Marika Pogany, 82, a Czechoslovakian-born Australian volunteer who delivered meals and services to Jewish seniors
  • Matilda, 10, the youngest fatality; a student at La Perouse Public School, born to Ukrainian immigrants
  • Eli Schlanger, 41, British-born assistant rabbi of Chabad and chaplain for Corrective Services NSW
  • Adam Smyth, 50, a Bondi local taking a walk with his wife Katrina
  • Boris Tetleroyd, 68, a visitor at the Hanukkah event who died alongside his wounded son
  • Tania Tretiak, 68, a Randwick resident attending the event with her family
  • Tibor Weitzen, 78, Soviet–born automotive engineer who died shielding his wife and Edith Brutman