Donald Trump has paid his respects to the victims of the anti-semitic terrorist massacre at Bondi Beach - and praised the 'very, very brave man' who disarmed one of the gunmen.
In remarks from the White House last night, the US President said: 'In Australia, there was a terrible attack. 11 dead, 29 badly wounded. And that was an anti-semitic attack, obviously. I'd like to pay my respects to everybody.'
Since the President's comments, the death toll has risen to 16 - 15, plus the perpetrator. A 10-year-old girl was among the dead.
Two gunmen were responsible for the massacre - a 24-year-old man and his father, 50. The 50-year-old is dead and the 24-year-old is in hospital.
Trump then went on to praise Ahmed al Ahmed, 43 - the brave man who thwarted a shooter by sneaking up behind him and wrestling the gun off him. He was also shot in the horror attack.
'In Australia, a very, very brave person who went and attacked frontally one of the shooters and saved a lot of lives,' Trump said.
'Very brave person who is right now in hospital, pretty seriously wounded. So, great respect to that man that did that.'
Trump also mentioned the mass shooting at Ivy League school Brown, where two were killed and nine were injured on Saturday afternoon.
The president arrived at the White House for a holiday celebration, but he used the first minutes of his speech to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives
He said that those who died were 'looking down at us right now from heaven,' as he praised the college as being one of the greatest in the world.
Trump made sure to also mention the two US soldiers who were killed in Syria during a deadly ISIS attack yesterday.
He told the crowds of people: 'Before we begin, I want to pay my respects to those who are no longer with us. Brown University, nine injured and two are looking down on us right now from heaven.'
'And in Syria also. We had an attack in Syria, we had three great patriots terminated by bad people. I just want to pay my respects to the families. We also had three injured, but two of them are already out of the hospital - but we lost three [people].
'It was a rough day.'
He continued: 'To the nine injured; get well fast. And to the families of those two that are no longer with us, I pay my deepest regards and respects from the United States of America.
'I can tell you in Syria, there will be a lot of damage done to the people that did it. There will be big damage done.'
The hero, Ahmed al Ahmed, disarmed one of the Bondi Beach attackers by grabbing his gun. He is a father-of-two fruit shop owner, pictured in a white shirt
The gunman backs away in a car park area as Ahmed points the shotgun at him
In Australia, Ahmed al Ahmad was named by relatives as the man fighting one of the terrorists in a video shared widely on social media.
His family said Ahmed, from the Sutherland area of the city, remains in hospital where he has undergone surgery for bullet wounds to his arm and hand.
He was seen in the footage, wearing a white T-shirt and crouching behind a car before pouncing on the back of the gunman and then grappling with him and snatching the rifle away from him.
The terrorist then fell backwards as Ahmed pointed the gun towards him.
The hero was then seen raising his hand before resting the gun against a tree apparently to show police he was not one of the attackers.
His cousin Mustafa told 7News Australia: 'He is still in hospital and we don't know exactly what is going on, the doctor says he is OK.'
Many members of the Jewish community had assembled for a Hanukkah celebration in the area earlier in the evening.
The two terrorists were spotted standing on a pedestrian footbridge before opening fire into crowds of locals, holidaymakers and families.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave a speech to the public following a meeting of the National Security Committee on Sunday night.
'There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation,' he said.
