Australia has been left reeling after a mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney killed 15 people and injured dozens during a public gathering marking the start of Hanukkah, an event authorities say was deliberately aimed at the Jewish community, the BBC reports.

New South Wales Police said the victims ranged in age from just 10 years of age to 87, underlining the indiscriminate nature of the violence. Among those killed early reports say was a British-born rabbi, according to his family, alongside foreign nationals from Israel and France. More than 40 people remain in hospital, several with life-threatening injuries, while two police officers were wounded as they moved to stop the attack.

Investigators have overnight said the assailants were a father and son. The older man, aged 50 and a licensed firearms holder with six registered weapons – all found at the site according to some reports - was shot dead by police at the scene. His 24-year-old son was taken to hospital, still alive but in critical condition. Authorities believe multiple legally owned weapons were used.

Video footage reviewed by investigators shows crowds fleeing the beachfront as shots rang out and a bystander intervening to disarm one of the attackers before police arrived. The incident unfolded shortly before 7pm local time in an area crowded with families and visitors.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted on X that “Australia will not be divided by hate or violence. We will confront it head on. And we will stand together in solidarity with Jewish Australians and with one another.” Other leaders around the world including Britain’s King Charles and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have condemned the attacks, the BBC added.

Mass shootings are exceptionally rare in Australia, where gun laws were tightened after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

In the wake of the attack, Australian police have formally designated the Bondi attack as an act of terrorism, placing it among the deadliest episodes of violence in the country in nearly three decades and prompting heightened security around Jewish sites nationwide.