SYDNEY, Australia — Australians will light candles and fall silent on Thursday, marking a national day of mourning for the 15 people killed by gunmen who opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah event last month at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach.

As flags fly at half-mast, millions are being asked to observe a minute of silence at 7:01 p.m. Sydney time for victims of the December 14 mass shooting, Australia’s deadliest in three decades.

Candles will be lit in windows and on doorsteps around the country.

Survivors, families, emergency responders, and community leaders are to join in an evening of collective mourning for those killed, titled “Light Will Win,” at Sydney’s Opera House.

Sajid Akram and his son Naveed targeted Jews attending the Hanukkah event in an ISIS-inspired attack, the nation’s worst mass shooting in 30 years and the worst antisemitic attack outside Israel in decades. Sajid was killed by police during the attack; Naveed was shot but survived.

Among the victims were an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a couple who confronted one of the gunmen, and a 10-year-old girl, Matilda, described at her funeral as a “ray of sunshine.”

Despite the dangers of that day, first responders raced to treat the wounded; strangers........

© The Times of Israel