Two suspected gunmen who attacked a Jewish celebration in Sydney's Bondi Beach that killed 15 people were a father and son, police said, as Australia mourned victims of its worst gun violence in almost 30 years.
The father, a 50-year-old, was killed at the scene while his 24-year-old son was in critical condition in the hospital, police said at a press conference.
Officials have described the shooting as a targeted anti-Semitic attack.
Witnesses said the attack at the famed beach, which was packed on a hot evening, lasted about ten minutes, sending hundreds of people scattering along the sand and into nearby streets and parks.
Police said around 1,000 people had attended the Hanukkah event.
Forty people remain in hospital following the attack, including two police officers who are in a serious but stable condition, police said. The victims were aged between 10 and 87.
Authorities said they were confident only two attackers were involved in the incident after previously saying they were checking whether a third offender was involved.
Police investigations are ongoing and police numbers have been increased in Jewish communities.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who visited the scene, called the attack a "dark moment for our nation," and said police and security agencies were thoroughly checking the motive behind the attack.
"What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location," Mr Albanese told reporters.
"The Jewish community are hurting today. Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out antisemitism. It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together."
Mr Albanese said several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, had reached out and he thanked them for their solidarity.
Mr Albanese said Australia has lowered flags to half-mast in a national gesture of mourning following the attack.
"Flags will fly at half-mast across the country today as we pay our respects to all those lost and all those injured," he said.
"In Australia, there was a terrible attack ... and that was an antisemitic attack obviously," President Trump said during a Christmas reception at the White House, paying respects for the victims of attacks at Bondi and another shooting at Rhode Island's Brown University.
Watch: 'I knew it was gunshots' says restaurant worker after Bondi beach shooting kills 16
"Antisemitism has no place in this world. Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack "cold-blooded murder", and said he had warned Mr Albanese about anti-Semitism before Australia, along with Britain, Canada and France, recognised a Palestinian state in September.
"Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets," Mr Netanyahu said he had written to the Australian leader in August.
The Australian National Imams Council condemned the shooting in a statement: "These acts of violence and crimes have no place in our society. Those responsible must be held fully accountable and face the full force of the law."
A bystander captured on video tackling and disarming an armed man during the attack has been hailed as a hero whose actions saved lives.
In Bondi, hundreds of police personnel remained on site as the suburb's main road remained closed, after being declared a crime scene.
Rabbi Mendel Kastel, whose brother-in-law Eli Schlanger was killed in the attack, said it had been a harrowing evening.
"You can very easily become very angry and try to blame people, turn on people but that's not what this is about. It's about a community," he said.
"We need to step up at a time like this, be there for each other, and come together. And we will, and we will get through this, and we know that. The Australian community will help us do it," he added.
Local woman Danielle, who declined to give her surname, was at the beach when the shooting occurred and raced to collect her daughter, who was attending a bar mitzvah at a function centre near where the alleged shooters were positioned.
"I heard there was a shooting so I bolted there to get my daughter, I could hear gunshots, I saw bodies on the ground. We are used to being scared, we have felt this way since October 7."
The shootings were the most serious of a string of anti-Semitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023.
Australia's Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about 150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million.
About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney's eastern suburbs, including Bondi.
Major cities, including Berlin, London and New York stepped up security around Hanukkah events following the attack at Bondi.
Additional reporting by PA
