Bondi beach shooting: Horror footage shows beachgoers running for lives as gunman shoots | World | News
A horrifying video has shown the moment Bondi beachgoers fled for their lives when gunmen opened fire on Sunday. Footage posted on social media showed crowds running from Australia’s iconic Sydney beach, where at least two gunmen attacked Hanukkah celebrations. Panicked beachgoers can be seen running up a set of stairs leading away from the beach and climbing over railings as they run for safety.
At least 12 people lost their lives in the terrible attack and at the time of writing, 29 people have been confirmed injured. AustraliaPrime Minister Anthony Albanese described the attack as an act of anti-Semitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation. According to authorities, police shot and killed one of the gunmen, while the second was arrested and is in critical condition. One of the gunmen was known to security services but no threat had been identified before the attack.
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The video of the crowd fleeing the beach belongs to Mike Ortiz, 30, who lives in the Sydney suburb of Belmore. Speaking to the Telegraph, the man said he was sitting in a grassy area looking at the beach and heard about 10 gunshots.
He started shooting while the shooting was still going on. He told the publication: “It happened so fast that we heard gunshots, immediately everyone started running. I couldn’t see directly where all this was happening.”
Another dramatic clip aired on Australian television showed a man. Capture and disarm one of the gunmenbefore pointing the man’s gun at him, then placing the gun on the ground.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns described the man, whom relatives have named fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed in Australian media, as “a true hero”.
The violence broke out at the end of a hot day when thousands of people flocked to Bondi Beach, including hundreds who gathered for the Hanukkah by the Sea event, which marks the beginning of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.
Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that operates outreach centers around the world and sponsors public events on major Jewish holidays One of the dead was identified as Rabbi Eli Schlanger.Associate rabbi at Bondi Chabad and organizer of the event. He was born in England.
His family described him as a “joyous rabbi.” The father of five grew up in Temple Fortune, north London, and had family members at Kinloss Synagogue in Finchley, according to Jewish News.
The 41-year-old man and his wife Chayala celebrated the birth of their youngest child, a boy, just two months ago.
His cousin, Rabbi Zalman Lewis, who lives in Brighton, told the Jewish News: “How could the life of a cheerful rabbi who went to the beach to spread happiness and light, to make the world a better place, end this way?”
New South Wales Police commissioner Malcolm Lanyon said: “Several improvised explosive devices” were found in a car He is linked to the gunman who died at Bondi Beach. He said these were being handled by bomb disposal experts.
Mr Lanyon added that the dead attacker was known to authorities but there was no “specific threat”. He said: “If police had intelligence that there was a risk to the community or this incident, we would have taken serious action.”
Detectives are also investigating the possibility of a third offender “leaving no stone unturned”, the police commissioner said.
Meanwhile, horrific eyewitness accounts continued to emerge later Sunday. Eyewitness Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, said: “You heard a few explosions, I got scared and ran away. I started running. I had this inkling. I ran as fast as I could.
“Everyone was dropping all their belongings and everything and running, people were crying and it was so scary.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu He attacked his Australian counterpart World leaders expressed shock and sympathy over the mass shooting.
Mr. Netanyahu said he warned Mr. Albanese that “his call for a Palestinian state fuels anti-Semitic fire.”
During the war in Gaza, the Israeli leader has repeatedly sought to link widespread calls for the creation of a Palestinian state and criticism of Israel’s military offensive in the region following Hamas’s 2023 offensive with rising cases of antisemitism around the world.
On Sunday, others in the Israeli government also called on Australia to do more to address a sharp rise in anti-Semitic attacks, while Netanyahu went further and tried to link the attack in Sydney to support for a Palestinian state.
Australia was among several countries to officially recognize the state of Palestine during the United Nations meeting of world leaders in September.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 159 countries have recognized Palestine. The vast majority of the international community believes that a two-state solution is the only way to end the decades-long conflict. Netanyahu’s government said the international effort to establish a Palestinian state rewarded Hamas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Washington strongly condemned the attack and added that “Anti-Semitism has no place in this world.”
King Charles III He said he was “horrified and saddened” depending on what it is. On Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s office said Herzog reached out to the king in September, warning of an “epidemic of anti-Semitism” in three Commonwealth countries – Britain, Canada and Australia.
London police announced that they will increase security on Jewish sites. British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife, Lady Victoria Starmer, lit their family Chanukiah in the window of Number 10. They also sent their “thoughts and prayers” to those killed in the terrorist attack.
