Survivors and eyewitnesses to the deadly terror attack at a public Hanukkah party in Sydney on Sunday recounted people scrambling to safety as shots rang out and victims fell around them.

At least 15 people were killed and dozens were wounded when two gunmen opened fire on the event held at the Australian city’s iconic Bondi Beach.

Arsen Ostrovsky, who heads a Jewish community organization in Sydney and only arrived in the city two weeks ago, was hit in the head as he attended the event with his wife and children. He spoke to the local 9News outlet, a bandage wrapped around his blood-splattered head.

“It was absolute chaos” when the gunfire started, said Ostrovsky, a rights lawyer who’d lived in Israel for the past 13 years.

Ostrovsky, outgoing CEO of the Israel-based International Legal Forum, said he saw at least one gunman firing what looked like a shotgun “randomly in all directions.”

“I saw people hit, people fall to the ground. I saw children falling to the floor, elderly, invalids… It was an absolute bloodbath. Blood gushing everywhere. October 7, that was the last time I saw this,” he said, referring to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel (Ostrovsky has previously described being at Kibbutz Be’eri days after the Hamas onslaught).

“I never thought I would see this in Australia. Not in my lifetime,” he said. “I got hit in the head, I’m bleeding, I’ve lost blood, there are people around me that are far worse.”

My friend Arsen Ostrovsky, injured in the horrific, bloody attack in Sydney on a Jewish community Hanukkah celebration: pic.twitter.com/4iUAWdAYig

— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson)

© The Times of Israel