MONGKOL BOREY, Cambodia (AP) — Heavy combat between Thailand and Cambodia entered a second week on Monday, with Phnom Penh claiming that Thai bombing is hitting deeper into its territory, coming close to shelters for people who had already fled dangerous areas along the border.
According to Cambodia’s defense and information ministries, Thai F-16 fighter jets dropped two bombs shortly after 10 a.m. near camps for displaced people in Oddar Meanchey and Siem Reap provinces.
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In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), displaced people flee shortly after a Thai bombing near their villages, at Srei Snam district, Siem Reap province, Cambodia, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025.(AKP via AP)
Displaced people sit on the floor as they take their refuge in Prey Chamkar Ta Doak market in Banteay Meanchey province, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting along the Thailand-Cambodia border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
A displaced people prays as she takes their refuge in Prey Chamkar Ta Doak market in Banteay Meanchey province, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting along the Thailand-Cambodia border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Members of a Thai Explosive Ordnance Disposal team inspect the site of a rocket attack during clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers in Kantharalak district of Sisaket province, Thailand, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A member of a Thai Explosive Ordnance Disposal team shows pieces of shrapnel as they inspect the site of a rocket attack during clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers in Kantharalak district of Sisaket province, Thailand, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
The bombing in Siem Reap's Srei Snam district, more than 70 kilometers (43 miles) inside Cambodian territory, targeted a bridge, Cambodian authorities said. The province is home to the world-famous Angkor Wat temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the country’s biggest tourist attraction.
Asked about the attack at a news conference, Thailand's Air Marshal Jackkrit Thammavichai, spokesperson of the air force, offered an oblique confirmation of the bombing.
“According to the international law and the rules of engagement, a military target is not defined based on the distance from the border," he said. “It’s actually defined based on the characteristic and objective of the use of that facility for military purposes.”
He said Thailand's air force abides by international law by not targeting civilians and that Monday's operation didn’t impact Cambodian civilians nearby.
Access to the combat zone and nearby areas is limited, so few claims by either side can be independently verified.
The two sides are battling over longstanding competing claims to patches of frontier land, some of which contain centuries-old temple ruins.
More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in the past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced, according to officials.
Thai officials issued an estimate of what damage has been inflicted on Cambodia’s military since a skirmish on Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers ignited large-scale fighting. They said Cambodian losses included 12 tanks, 10 armored vehicles, four anti-aircraft artillery systems, seven artillery pieces, five anti-drone systems, 175 drones, five communication hubs and one BM-21 mobile rocket launcher.
Thailand says Cambodia has fired thousands of rockets from the truck-mounted BM-21 launchers, which have a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles) and can fire up to 40 projectiles at a time.
Thailand’s government announced on Sunday that a rocket attack from Cambodia had killed a 63-year-old villager, its first civilian death reported as a direct result of combat.
Col. Ritcha Suksuwanon, a Thai army deputy spokesperson, said on Sunday that an intact Chinese GAM-102LR guided anti-tank missile system was seized. Thailand estimates among Cambodia’s losses some 82 military positions and 505 Cambodian military personnel reportedly killed.
Cambodia has dismissed as disinformation previous Thai estimates of its military death toll but has not released its own figures. Thailand acknowledges the deaths of 16 of its troops.
Phnom Penh said Monday that 15 civilians have been killed and 73 wounded.
Thai officials also said they were trying to cut off the supply of fuel and weapons to Cambodia, but denied reports that a full-scale naval blockade would be mounted. Capt. Nara Khunkothom, assistant spokesperson for the Thai navy, said only Thai-registered vessels would be subject to their controls in what they have officially designated a “high-risk area” in the Gulf of Thailand.
Officials also said fuel and weapons would no longer be allowed to go through a major land checkpoint to neighboring Laos that is close to Cambodian territory, declaring that military supplies and logistical support must be cut off.
In a surprise admission, Thai officials implicitly acknowledged that attacks had damaged centuries-old Ta Kwai temple — known to Cambodians as Ta Krabey — in a disputed area, but blamed Cambodia for allegedly using it as a military stronghold.
Phnombootra Chandrajoti, director-general of Thailand's Fine Arts Department, said that historical sites should not be used as bases for military operations and that the most important priority is that Thailand must secure and preserve the area.
The new fighting derailed a ceasefire promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July. It had been brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
Trump announced this past Friday that the two countries had agreed at his urging to renew the ceasefire, but Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul denied making any commitment and Cambodia announced it was continuing to fight in what it said is self-defense.
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Associated Press writers Grant Peck and Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok contributed to this report.
In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), displaced people flee shortly after a Thai bombing near their villages, at Srei Snam district, Siem Reap province, Cambodia, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025.(AKP via AP)
Displaced people sit on the floor as they take their refuge in Prey Chamkar Ta Doak market in Banteay Meanchey province, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting along the Thailand-Cambodia border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
A displaced people prays as she takes their refuge in Prey Chamkar Ta Doak market in Banteay Meanchey province, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting along the Thailand-Cambodia border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Members of a Thai Explosive Ordnance Disposal team inspect the site of a rocket attack during clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers in Kantharalak district of Sisaket province, Thailand, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A member of a Thai Explosive Ordnance Disposal team shows pieces of shrapnel as they inspect the site of a rocket attack during clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers in Kantharalak district of Sisaket province, Thailand, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
SYDNEY (AP) — As the sounds of bullets rang out and the bodies fell, the young mother threw herself on top of her 5-year-old son and prayed.
“Please don’t let us die,” 33-year-old Rebecca begged God from her hiding place under a table in a park overlooking Bondi, Australia’s most iconic beach. Rebecca spoke on condition that her last name not be used for fear of retaliation. “Please just keep my son safe.”
It was faith that drew Rebecca and hundreds of other members of Sydney’s Jewish community to this picturesque spot to celebrate the start of Hannukah. And it was faith that authorities said made her and others attending the Channukah by the Sea gathering a target of two gunmen who began firing at revelers around 6:40 p.m. on Sunday. Authorities have called it an antisemitic act of terrorism.
In the minutes that followed, the assault would take the lives of at least 15 people, officials said, including a 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a beloved rabbi. It would also take away a sense of security in a country that, because of strict gun laws, has largely been insulated from the mass shootings so common in the United States and other Western nations.
This reconstruction is based on interviews with survivors and footage of the assault.
Under the table that held food for the partygoers, Rebecca pulled buckets of drinks on top of her body, to try and hide herself and her son. Suddenly, a man lying on his side just 10 centimeters (3 inches) from her was struck in the chest by a bullet.
“I’m dying,” he told Rebecca. “I can’t breathe.”
Under fire and separated from her husband and 7-year-old daughter, Rebecca could offer him nothing but words. “You’re going to be OK,” she told him desperately. “You’re going to be OK.”
She did not know if that was true.
It started out as a classic Sunday summer evening in Sydney. The sun had not yet set, and the temperature was still a balmy 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit). The Tasman Sea was speckled with swimmers and surfers.
In the park overlooking Bondi’s golden arc of sand, children giggled and cuddled animals at a petting zoo set up as part of the Hanukkah celebration. Rebecca’s son scampered up a rock-climbing wall. Music competed with the sound of crashing waves.
And then the bubbles floating through the air were replaced with bullets, the laughter replaced with screams. From their positions on one of the pedestrian bridges connecting the busy main road to the beach, two armed gunmen — a father and son, according to police — had begun firing into the crowd.
Young people began to run, but older people struggled to get up. From her perch on a bench, Rebecca watched in horror as a bullet struck an older woman sitting next to her. Rebecca grabbed her son and dove under the table.
On the beach and the boardwalk, it was bedlam.
Some surfers and swimmers frantically paddled ashore, while others sought safety in the sea. Eleanor, who also spoke on condition that her last name not be used for fear of retaliation, said she been walking down the boardwalk on her way to dinner when she heard the gunshots. Her mind went blank, apart from one command: “Run.” And so she did, fully clothed, into the ocean.
Crowds of people — gathered on a grassy slope overlooking the sea for a sunset viewing of the Christmas romcom, “The Holiday” — abandoned their blankets and beach chairs and fled.
From their hotel room overlooking the streets of Bondi, Joel Sargent, 30, and his partner, Grace, from Melbourne, heard the shots and began to film. Their footage, obtained by The Associated Press, shows the gunfire went on for at least seven minutes, with dozens of blasts. Grace spoke on condition her last name not be used because she didn't want people at work to know she had been involved.
"Baby, I’m scared," Grace can be heard saying as they watched throngs of screaming people stream past their building. She shouted down to them: “Get off the street!”
Phones across the city lit up with panicked calls and messages. Lawrence Stand was at home when his phone rang. It was his 12-year-old daughter, who had been attending a bar mitzvah inside the Bondi Pavilion, overlooking the beach.
Stand told his daughter to stay on the phone as he leaped into his car and raced toward the beach. He found her and pulled her and others into his car, speeding them away from the carnage.
Many did not know where to find sanctuary. Inside a Greek restaurant, 20-year-old American friends Shira Elisha and Lexi Haag first hid in the restaurant’s bathroom, and then ran back to Elisha’s home, where they hid under her bedding. The pair wondered how a situation so common to the U.S. but so alien to Australia was happening here.
Back in the park, the man next to Rebecca was bleeding out. Rebecca’s 65-year-old mother-in-law grabbed a piece of cardboard and pressed it against his wound.
The man did not survive.
The shots kept coming. Sirens wailed. Minutes passed. A bystander can be heard shouting in one video: “Where are the cops?”
That and other widely circulated videos of the attack chronicled what happened next.
Near one of the shooters, a passerby identified by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke as Ahmed al Ahmed crouched behind a parked car. Ahmed, a fruit shop owner and father of two, then rushed the shooter and wrestled away the gun, before pointing the weapon at the shooter, who fell to the ground. Ahmed was shot in the shoulder by the other gunman, but survived.
The man disarmed by Ahmed got up but, under fire from police, soon fell again. The other shooter traded fire with police for another minute before he, too, fell.
Police later confirmed the older of the two suspected gunmen, a 50-year-old, was fatally shot. His 24-year-old son, who was shot and wounded, is being treated at a hospital.
Back in the park, rescuers frantically pumped the chests of unmoving bodies on the grass, near a picnic table, an abandoned stroller and the petting zoo.
On Monday, Elisha, the American who hid in the restaurant bathroom, wandered down to the beach, where rows of shoes abandoned by fleeing beachgoers lined the sand.
“It just reminded me of the Holocaust — all these shoes lying here. This is like Oct. 7,” she said, referring to Hamas-led militants’ 2023 attack in Israel. “How many times do Jews need to be attacked before the world just wakes up and realizes that we have targets on our backs?”
After a sleepless night, Rebecca and her sister-in-law, draped in the flag of Israel, made their way to the beach to mourn before a memorial of flowers.
Rebecca’s children have asked her many questions since the attack, for which she has no answers, she said.
She has her own questions: for officials she said did little to address a surge in antisemitic crimes in Sydney and Melbourne over the past year. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s efforts to combat antisemitism and said it planned more.
“The world needs to wake up and see what’s happening,” she said. “They specifically targeted us, the Jewish people. ... No one did anything. They turned a blind eye.”
Police cordon off an area at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
People offer hugs to each other at a flower memorial placed outside Bondi Pavilion at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, a day after a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A woman places an Israeli flag over flowers outside Bondi Pavilion at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, a day after a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A couple embrace a day after a shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Shoes sit lined up following a shooting the day prior at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
