Sara Vaanunu, a JNF representative in Australia, was attending a bar mitzvah with her family at Bondi Beach in Sydney. She told Kan about the attack this morning.
"We held a bar mitzvah for my son, and his whole class was there," she said. "Suddenly shots started. The shooting lasted about five minutes. People ran and hid in the inner hall. Everyone was in panic."
"People are afraid, they removed the mezuzot from their homes. Some parents were afraid their children would go to school. There is a real fear, but I am proud to be Israeli and Jewish and I do not want to hide that, and it is important to be strong."
Hannah, daughter of the late Tibor Whiteson, who was murdered in the attack, shared: "It has been 24 hours since our world was destroyed. We were supposed to have already returned home after the candle lighting, and suddenly I heard something that sounded like fireworks. My daughter is in an advanced ninth month of pregnancy and we started running in hysteria."
"I lost contact with my parents. I found my father lying on the ground, and beside him a family friend was fighting for her life. Then I saw my mother covered in blood, and she told me this is your father's blood. There I understood that my father died shielding her."