Not less than 11 persons said to be mostly from the Jewish community and police officers were shot dead by terrorists on Sunday at Bondi Beach in the Sydney city of Australia as thousands came out to mark this year Chanukah or Hanukkah festival, a festival that is known as the Jewish “Festival of Lights,” usually an eight-day winter celebration marking event of the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and a miraculous long-lasting oil supply, observed by lighting candles on a menorah, “chanukiah”, and reciting special prayers, and eating oily foods like latkes and sufganiyot, which symbolises Jewish resilience and freedom, the terrorists attacked the Jewish community on the first day of the festival after Israel government had on Saturday authorized the killing of a senior Hamas commander, Raad Saad who Israel, through a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, stated that, in recent days, Raad Saad had been engaged in rehabilitating the terrorist organization, planning and carrying out attacks against Israel and rebuilding an attack force, in blatant violation of the ceasefire rules and Hamas’s commitments to adhere to the US President Donald Trump’s plan, stating, “Instead of promoting demilitarization, he was engaged in rearming for acts of terrorism”, although Israel Government has not issued any statement since the Sunday attacks on Jewish community in Sydney as at the time of filing in this news report on Sunday, but, Hamas in a news report published by Al-jazeera confirmed that Saad had since been killed by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza city of Palestine, one of the video footages of the Sunday attack on the Jewish community in Sydney showed a moment an apparent very brave man disarmed one of the gunmen during the mass shooting, overpowered the suspected terrorist, collected the gun and turned the gun against the suspected terrorist without shooting him, and the suspect gets away, then joins another suspected terrorist shooter who continues firing from a bridge.

New South Wales Police declared the shooting as an act of terrorism and the New South Wales Police Commissioner, Mal Lanyon said an improvised explosive device was found in a car at the Bondi Beach, linked to the deceased perpetrator. The Police commissioner added that a rescue and bomb disposal unit has been deployed to the scene.

Local media reported that an emergency services transported eight injured people to hospital after providing urgent treatment on site and 11 persons have been confirmed dead by the local authority.

Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese called the scenes ‘shocking and distressing’ and said police and medical teams are continuing efforts to protect lives as the investigation develops.

The Police confirmed that “there are two known suspects — one is dead while the other is in a life-threatening condition in hospital. Officers are currently investigating whether there was a third perpetrator involved in the attack. An improvised explosive device was found in a car at Bondi, which was linked to the deceased perpetrator. We’ll bring you the latest updates as we get them”.

The man who was seen in footage  wrestling a firearm from one of the shooters at Bondi Beach has been praised as a “genuine hero” by the New South Wales State Premier, Christopher John Minns.

The State Premier, Christopher Minns said at a Press Conference on Sunday that; “It’s the most unbelievable scene I’ve ever seen, a man walking up to a gunman who had fired on the community and single handedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk to save the lives of countless others. That man is a genuine hero and I’ve got no doubt that there are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery.”

Christopher John Minns had in some hours before the attack, stated on his personal facebook wall that “Chanukah is the Festival of Lights – and I know those of us in the Jewish community will be taking this opportunity to be with family and friends, light the Chanukah candles, sing traditional songs, and eat latkes and jam donuts.

New South Wales has been the home for Jewish people, ever since eight Jews sailed here on the First Fleet. You have made an enormous, positive, sustained contribution to this country. And thank you for sharing your light with us here in New South Wales. Happy Chanukah!”.

The Office of the Prime Minister of Israel on Saturday published a Joint Statement by the Israeli Prime Minister and the Defense Minister which read verbatim below thus:

“In response to the detonation of a Hamas explosive device that wounded our forces today in the Yellow Area of the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz directed that the senior Hamas terrorist Raad Saad, be eliminated.

Saad was one of the architects of the October 7 massacre, and in recent days had been engaged in rehabilitating the terrorist organization and in planning and carrying out attacks against Israel and rebuilding an attack force, in blatant violation of the ceasefire rules and Hamas’s commitments to adhere to President Trump’s plan. Instead of promoting demilitarization, he was engaged in rearming for acts of terrorism.

Whoever raises his hand against Israel and harms IDF soldiers, his hand will be cut off in Gaza and everywhere else. On behalf of all the citizens of Israel, the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister wish a speedy recovery to our wounded fighters”.

Hamas, according to Al-jazeera on Sunday, “confirmed the killing of its senior commander in an Israeli strike in Gaza in the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since the October ceasefire deal.

“In the wake of Israel’s continued violations including the latest assassination of Hamas commander (Raed Saed) just yesterday, we call on the mediators and especially the US administration and US President Donald Trump as the main guarantor of the agreement, to force Israel to respect the ceasefire deal and to implement it,” Hamas’ Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said in a video statement on Sunday.