Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese deemed a mass shooting targeting a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney a “terrorist incident” on Sunday after the attack left 16 dead, including one of the shooting’s two perpetrators. The other shooter has been taken into custody, according to New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns. NSW Police reported that the shooting on Sydney’s Bondi Beach left at least 11 others, including two police officers, injured.

Minns said that the shooting occurred at 6:47 pm when the attackers opened fire on Jewish families celebrating the first day of Hanukkah at a park along Bondi Beach. Albanese reported that the country’s National Security Committee was convened as a result of the incident and elaborated:

This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith, an act of evil antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation. An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian, and every Australian tonight will be, like me, devastated by this attack on our way of life.

The attack took place amid a surge of antisemitic incidents that have taken place across Australia in recent years. As recently as August, Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador from the country for allegedly directing two antisemitic firebombing attacks in 2024. The Australian Government also passed legislation in February designed to curb hate speech and mandate minimum sentences for hate crimes and terrorism in response to the increase in antisemitic incidents.

NSW Police and other agencies are continuing to investigate Sunday’s shooting, appealing for anyone with information or video from the incident to contact Crime Stoppers Australia.