Six days after the deadly terror attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, stories of bravery and courage by those present — including Israelis — continue to emerge. One of them is the story of Gefen Biton, 30, who ran toward the gunfire to help others and was critically wounded by a terrorist’s bullets. His condition remains critical, and he is sedated and on a ventilator at a Sydney hospital. Dramatic footage of his charge, aired by Australian media, has since surfaced.
Biton, who has been working in Australia for the past three years, arrived at the candle-lighting event on the beach with a close friend after a long day touring the nearby Blue Mountains. According to the friend, despite their exhaustion, Biton insisted they stay at least until the first Hanukkah candle was lit.
Gefen Biton in Sydney attack
(Video: From 9news)
Since Biton’s family learned of his injuries, some relatives have flown to Australia. Friends have also been visiting the hospital, where Biton is well known among the Israeli community in Sydney and across the country.
Tom Cohen, an Israeli who has lived in Australia for six years and has been staying with Biton at the hospital day and night, told ynet that according to the family, Biton initially fled when the shooting began but moments later decided to confront the danger. He ran to the area where a Sydney resident, Syrian immigrant Ahmed al-Ahmed, charged the attacker Sajid Akram, who, together with his son Naveed, killed 15 people in the attack — the deadliest in Australia in 30 years. Sajid was killed at the scene, while his son Naveed was seriously wounded and later charged with 59 terrorism-related offenses. Investigators said the two had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
In a video filmed by an amateur and broadcast by local Channel 7, Biton is seen running toward one of the attackers — apparently Sajid, whom al-Ahmed had confronted moments earlier — before being shot, likely by the son, Naveed, who opened fire from a nearby bridge. Biton was hit in the abdomen and, after falling to the ground, was shot again in the pelvic area. Amid the chaos, his friend was unable to locate him. At the same time, Biton’s sister received a frantic phone call from her brother in which he cried out, “I’ve been shot,” before the line went dead.
According to Cohen, a large-scale search then began at the scene and across hospitals in the city. “It took us three hours to find him at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Until then, we were constantly on the phone trying to understand what had happened,” he said. “We quickly realized he was unidentified because he wasn’t answering his phone and, as far as we knew, had no documents on him. When one of us arrived at St. Vincent’s and tried calling again, his phone was sitting on the reception desk. It turned out they hadn’t understood his name when he gave it, so they recorded a different one.”
Cohen said it took several hours before the family was updated on Biton’s condition. “They probably didn’t want to alarm us, and once they understood how serious it was and that his family was in Israel, they told one of the friends that he was critical and in surgery.” After two days of long flights, Biton’s father arrived in Australia and reunited with his son and friends at the hospital, near the room where Biton was recovering from two of the five surgeries he had undergone so far.
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Documentation of the attack by Gefen, who was initially described in the Australian media as 'the man in the red shirt'
(Photo: thenewdaily)
“It was a very sad scene, seeing Gefen’s father arrive after two days on planes, hoping his son would survive,” Cohen said. “But his father is incredibly mentally strong and gave us strength just as much as we tried to support him, believing things would be OK.”
For two days, the father and friends could not understand how Biton had sustained his injuries. “We couldn’t figure out how his entry wound was from the front if he had initially run away from the shooting, as the friend who was with him said,” Cohen said. “At the same time, the last location of his phone at the scene was very close to the neutralized attacker.”
The answers came unexpectedly Wednesday evening, when a friend sent them a video from a Channel 7 report showing Biton running toward the scene and being shot while standing next to al-Ahmed. In the footage, Biton is wearing a red shirt, leading Australian media to initially refer to him as “the man in the red shirt.”
“The video shows Gefen’s mentality,” Cohen said. “He was unarmed, but as an Israeli he chose to confront the danger, put himself in the line of fire and try to save others. He had already gotten out of harm’s way and could easily have fled to save himself, but he chose to go back and help more people.”
A day after the video was broadcast, family and friends received further confirmation that Biton was the man seen in the footage when police officers who evacuated him from the scene told them so. “They said he was very brave and insisted on staying awake on the way to the hospital,” Cohen said. “One of them even told us he was sure Gefen would survive because he saw his resilience in the hardest moments.”
For now, Biton’s family and friends say they are waiting for a miracle. Although he is no longer in immediate life-threatening danger, his condition remains critical, and the road to recovery is expected to be long and complex. “His injuries are severe, but we believe in the doctors and in his ability to recover,” Cohen said.
“The heroic act didn’t surprise us — that’s Gefen. He’s our candle, our light this holiday. He’s just a simple Israeli with a huge heart who ran to save locals he didn’t know. Now we’re waiting for him to wake up.”
As part of his rehabilitation, friends have launched a GoFundMe campaign to help Biton and his family. So far, $279,422 has been raised of the $350,000 goal. Among more than 2,200 donors, Ric Serrao, who gave $500, wrote: “The world needs more courageous people like you. Thank you for what you did.” Jewish billionaire Bill Ackman is also listed among the donors, contributing $37,800.