Australia falls silent, lights candles for Bondi Beach shooting victims

Australians fell silent in flickering candlelight on Sunday in memory of the Bondi Beach shooting victims, one week after gunmen fired into crowds celebrating a Jewish festival. 

A father and son are accused of targeting the beachside Hanukkah event, killing 15 people in the nation's deadliest mass shooting in almost three decades.

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Sajid Akram, an Indian national who entered Australia on a visa in 1998, was shot and killed by police. Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, remains in hospital under police guard and faces multiple charges, including terrorism and 15 murders.

From raucous city pubs to sleepy country towns, Australia observed a minute's silence at 6:47 pm (0747 GMT) -- exactly a week since the first reports of gunfire. 

Countless homes lined their windowsills with candles in a gesture of "light over darkness", a key theme of the Hanukkah festival.

"Last week took our innocence, and, like the grass here at Bondi was stained with blood, so too has our nation been stained," said David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies. 

A candle was lit before thousands of people held their silent vigil at Bondi Beach.

As dusk fell over the Bondi foreshore, event organisers estimated some 20,000 had attended.

"Bondi is with us, Sydney is with us, Australia is with us and the world is with us," Rabbi Yehoram Ulman said, before reading out the names of those killed.

They include 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim, and Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, 87, who was killed shielding his wife from bullets.

Anger spilt over at the government's perceived failure to act swiftly and forcefully enough to halt a rise in antisemitic incidents since the outbreak of hostilities in Gaza.

Television images showed police surrounding one man who shouted, "Blood on your hands," as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived at the oceanside event.

Some in the crowd booed when Albanese's presence was announced at the service.

Bravery

Alongside the killings, stories of immense bravery have emerged. 

Beachgoers grappled with the heavily armed assailants, while others shielded strangers or dashed through gunfire to treat the wounded.

Shopkeeper Ahmed al Ahmed, a father of two who moved to Australia from Syria almost a decade ago, has been lauded after ducking between cars and then wresting a gun from one of the attackers.