2025 Bondi Beach shooting

On 14 December 2025, an antisemitic Islamic State (IS)-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 6:42 pm, two gunmen, allegedly Indian national 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.

Naveed is now on remand in Goulburn Correctional Centre awaiting trial for 15 murders and 44 other charges. Four people confronted the gunmen, attempting to curb the attack. Three were killed and one suffered gunshot wounds. Volunteer surf lifesavers and Waverley 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 and critically injuring Naveed, who was detained. Forty people, including 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 alleged shooters.

Numerous world leaders, news outlets and Australian authorities declared 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". The ongoing investigation by 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, the worst terrorist attack in Australia, and the deadliest mass shooting in Australia since 1996. 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 federal hate speech laws and was marked by a national day of reflection and a national day of mourning. In New South Wales, the attack led to changes to terrorism and protest laws.

Background

Religious and racial intolerance

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.

Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Australia both rose during the Gaza war. But the pattern preceded the war; extremist groups have risen in Australia over the past decade, including neo-Nazi groups such as the National Socialist Network. In January 2024, the federal government banned Nazi salutes and displaying Nazi symbols such as the swastika. In February 2025, the laws were changed to mandatory minimum jail sentences. In November 2025, there was a neo-Nazi rally outside NSW parliament.

Islamic State

After they lost control of the territory in Iraq and Syria, ISIS changed strategy, to focus on inciting "lone wolf" attacks. Since then there have been other Islamic State inspired lone wolf attacks, often on Jewish or Christian festivals. However, Islamic State has not previously focused on the Palestine conflict with Israel.

Violence and terrorism

Mass casualty terrorism is rare in Australia. The Bondi Beach shooting is the worst terrorist attack committed in Australia.

Until 2019, Australians who supported ISIS often "made hijra", the group's own name for migrating to their self-declared "state" in Iraq and Syria. From 2012 until 2019 over 200 Australians made hijra to the self-described "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) while the movement controlled territory in that region. This included men, women and children. Australian teenagers carried out suicide bombings for Islamic State, including Jake Bilardi, an 18-year-old from an atheist family in Melbourne, who killed himself in an attack on the Iraqi army. Many others were killed, but most of the survivors remain In camps guarded by the Kurdish forces, in Rojava in Syria.

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.

Weapons restrictions

The terror attack in Bondi was also the most deadly mass shooting in Australia since 1996. Australia's strict gun laws – including restrictions on automatic, semi-automatic and pump action rifles, as well as shotguns – were introduced after 35 people were killed in 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.

Mass shootings are rare, however, there were two notable public stabbings in Sydney in April 2024. One was a mass stabbing incident at Bondi Junction, which was not related to terrorism. The other stabbing targeted an Assyrian Australian bishop, Mari Emmanuel, during a sermon at his church in Wakeley.

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 about 18:45 (AEDT, UTC+11). New South Wales Police released a statement at 18:57 confirming their response to an ongoing incident.

Timeline

Attack details

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 50 metres (160 ft) 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 40 metres (130 ft) 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, near Idlib, in 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.