A Holocaust survivor. An extended-serving rabbi. A ten-year-old girl.
These are among the many 16 people killed when two gunmen opened fire on a whole bunch of individuals celebrating Hanukkah in Bondi Beach, Sydney.
The fear attack yesterday was certainly one of the deadliest attacks on the Jewish community within the nation’s history.
Details are still emerging on the victims, who had gathered that afternoon with their children and grandchildren to rejoice the festival of sunshine.
Here’s what we all know up to now.
Rabbi Eli Schlanger
Rabbi Schlanger, the assistant rabbi in Chabad of Bondi, an outreach group, helped organise the event yesterday.
Chanukah by the Sea 2025 was advertised online as a free, family-friendly celebration with doughnuts, a petting zoo and an enormous menorah lighting.
Schlanger, 41, was a father of 5 who grew up in Temple Fortune, north London.
Rabbi Benjamin Elton, chief minister of Sydney’s Great Synagogue, told Metro that he worked with Rabbi Schlenger.
‘Just a really hard-working, dedicated, committed rabbi and family man,’ he said.
Alex Kleytman
Alex Kleytman, a retired civil engineer who survived the Holocaust in Ukraine, was among the many dead, his wife told The Australian.
Larisa Kleytman said she and Alex were celebrating on the beach when shots rang out.
She said: ‘At this moment, he was behind me and at one moment, he decided to go near me. He pushed his body up because he desired to stay near me.’
Matilda
The youngest known victim of the Bondi Beach massacre was Matilda, 10.
Her aunt Lina told Australia’s public broadcaster, ABC, that the teenager was ‘very friendly, she loves school and has quite a lot of friends’.
She was a student of the Harmony Russian school of Sydney – her teacher said on a GoFundMe that she was a ‘vivid, joyful, and spirited child who brought light to everyone round her’.
Dan Elkayam
Dan Elkayam, a French citizen and football player, was confirmed as certainly one of the dead by French president Emmanuel Macron.
He said on X: ‘It’s with deep sadness that I learn of the death of our compatriot Dan Elkayam within the antisemitic terrorist attack in Sydney.’
Dan, 27, was a member of Rockdale Ilinden football club’s Premier League One team in southern Sydney.
‘Dan was a valued and deeply respected member of our football community,’ the club wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post.
Reuven Morrison
Originally from the Soviet Union, Reuven Morrison was a businessman who spent his time between Sydney and Melbourne, in response to Chabad.
His wife moved to Melbourne for his daughter’s education, while he carried out business in Sydney.
He told ABC last yr that he got here to Australia because he saw the nation as ‘protected’ for Jewish people.
Rabbi Yaakov Levitan
In Sydney’s Jewish community, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan was a household name.
He was secretary of the Sydney Beth Din, coordinator for Chabad and worked on the BINA Library, a Torah learning centre.
Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Rabbi Levitan also founded tapNgive, which introduced tap-and-pay donation kiosks to Jewish donation drives, in response to Matvaz.com.
Peter Meagher
Peter Meagher, also referred to as Marzo, was a ‘beloved’ volunteer at Randwick rugby club, which confirmed his death.
Meagher was working as a contract photographer on the Chanukah By the Sea event when he was fatally shot.
The club wrote on Instagram: ‘Peter was a beloved member of the Galloping Greens, dedicating countless hours as first grade team manager and a volunteer referee, and followed within the footsteps of his father Ron and grandfather Wally, a Wallabies Hall of Famer, in serving the club.’
Tibor Weitzen
Tibor Weitzen, a sound engineer at ABC, died shielding his wife and grandchildren from the gunman’s bullets.
The 78-year-old was a member of Bondi’s Chabad Synagogue. His grandson, a paramedic, found his grandfather’s body.
‘I used to be certainly one of the primary responders, my family were there for the event and my wife called me so I ran right down to the beach with my defibrillator and the shooting was still going,’ grandson Mendy Amzalak told The Australian.
‘I began treating people after which I got here across his body.’
An Israeli citizen
According to Israeli media, an unnamed person from Israel was amongst those killed.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Who’s Bondi Beach suspect Naveed Akram?
MORE: Met Police step up protection for Jewish synagogues during Hanukkah after Bondi attack
MORE: Woman who knew Rabbi Eli describes ‘utter panic’ following Bondi terror attack