By Christine Chen and Renju Jose

SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Israel's ambassador to Australia has called for greater protection of Jewish people in Australia as dozens of people lined up ​on Tuesday at Sydney's Bondi Beach to pay tribute to the 15 victims and those ​wounded in the weekend's Hanukkah festival shootings.

The attack by two gunmen on Sunday was Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the ⁠Jewish community.

The death toll stands at 16 including one of the alleged gunmen, aged 50, who was shot by police. The man's 24-year-old son and alleged accomplice was in critical condition in hospital, police said on Monday.

Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon urged the Australian government to take all required steps to secure the lives of Jews in Australia, with ​Sunday's attack only the worst of a recent spate of antisemetic crimes in the city.

"Only Australians of Jewish faith are forced to worship their gods ‍behind closed doors, CCTV, guards," Maimon told reporters in Bondi, after ​laying flowers at the temporary memorial and paying his respects to the victims.

"My heart is torn apart ... it is insane."

A string of antisemitic incidents in Australia has unfolded in the past sixteen months, prompting the head of the nation's main intelligence agency to declared that antisemitism was his........

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