One of the survivors of Sunday’s terrorist attack at Bondi Beach has recalled the chaos as a bullet grazed his head, leaving him “millimetres from death”.
Holding back emotion at the floral memorial at Bondi Beach on Thursday, Arsen Ostrovsky told reporters about the moment he thought he had been shot.
“I immediately ducked, but then I knew my wife and kids were about 20 to 30 metres away … towards the shooter,” he said.
Read more on the Bondi Beach shooting:
“So I stood up, and I started to run towards them and I got hit. I fell to the ground screaming ‘I’m hit I’m hit’, blood started gushing everywhere.
“I put my hand on my head. I almost felt my bone.”
The bullet that struck Mr Ostrovsky had grazed his head but resulted in serious blood loss.
“And the doctors said it was a miracle, that I was millimetres away from life and death,” he said.
It was only hours later in hospital that Mr Ostrokvsky learnt his wife and children escaped the terror by running “metres” past him.
Arsen Ostrovsky in Israel in 2016 with former Labor MP Michael Danby. Mr Ostrovsky moved back to Australia recently after living in Israel. (Twitter: Arsen Ostrovsky)
Later, the bloodied selfie he took ducking for cover would be seen around the world.
Mr Ostrovsky said he sent the image to his wife with the words “love you”, saying he did not know if it would be the last thing he said to her.
When asked about reports of AI-altered versions of that image circulating online, Mr Ostrovsky called for social media giants to act more responsibly.
“I will not dignify these sick and twisted campaigns of hate and lies with a response,” he said of the doctored photo.
ABC NEWS has blurred the image of Arsen Ostrovsky due to its graphic nature. (Supplied)
“But I will just say there is an incredible onus on the social media companies to stamp this hatred out because these are not mere words.
“And as we saw here, just Sunday, when words, when hatred is left untouched, it leads to violence. And we saw the deadly manifestation of that on Sunday.”
Mr Ostrovsky, who heads the Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council, had only recently moved back to Australia from Israel when he attended Sunday’s Hanukkah event.
“She asked me ‘daddy, does that mean no more boomies’, meaning no more rockets, no more sirens, no more running to bomb shelters,” he said.
“And I said ‘no, sweetie, no more boomies, you’re safe, this is Australia’.
“I was wrong. Very, very wrong.”.
Falsehoods spread online after Bondi Beach terrorist attack
The terrorist attack on Sunday claimed the lives of 15 people.
Several others remain in hospital as they recover from being indiscriminately fired upon at the Chanukkah by the Sea event at the weekend.
Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, died in the shootout with police while his 24-year-old son Naveed survived and was charged on Wednesday with 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terror attack.