Her aunt revealed that Matilda had died in front of her sister in Sunday’s attack – Matilda is one of 15 victims confirmed to have died after Sunday’s horrifying incident
Grieving relatives have called for mourners to spread “love and happiness” at the funeral of the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach terror attack.
Little Matilda, 10, died in front of her sister in Sunday’s sickening attack, which saw two Isis-inspired gunmen open fire at families celebrating the Jewish holy festival of Hanukkah.
He aunt Lina Chernykh told the BBC at the little girl’s funeral on Thursday that the Jewish community is right to want more action to stamp out antisemitism.
She said: “Take your anger and… just spread happiness and love and memory for my lovely niece. I hope maybe she’s an angel now. Maybe she [will] send some good vibes to the world.”
She previously said: “Imagine you see your beautiful little sister that you love just being killed in front of you. They were like twins. They’ve never been separated.”
Her father Michael praised locals and police who tried to help, including a woman who saved their younger daughter. He said: “I don’t know who she was but she literally hugged her for the whole 10 minutes of shooting.”
Matilda’s funeral is one of several being held of the 15 victims of the massacre, including 78-year-old Tibor Weitzen, who died shielding his loved ones from harm.
British-born Eli, 41 – whose wife gave birth to their fifth child just two months ago -was also laid to rest. He grew up in Temple, North London, and had become known as the “Bondi Rabbi”.
At his funeral, Rabbi Levi Wolff told mourners his death was an “unspeakable loss for the entire Jewish nation”. He added: “Eli was ripped away from us, doing what he loved best, spreading love and joy and caring for his people with endless self-sacrifice.”
Eli had helped organise the festival of light event on Sunday, which turned to carnage when two gunmen opened fire on crowds.
His father-in-law, also a Rabbi, Yehoram Ulman told the congregation at the Chabad mission: “My biggest regret was to tell Eli more often how much we love him, how much I love him, how much we appreciate everything that he does and how proud we are of him.
“I hope he knew that but I think it should have been said more often.”
Shooting suspect Naveed Akram, 24, faces 15 counts of murder and 44 other charges after waking from a coma. A court was convened at his hospital bedside after he was deemed to be fit to understand the charges. The case has been adjourned until April 2026.
His suspected accomplice, father Sajid Akram, 50, was killed in a shootout with police.
It was the country’s deadliest shooting since 1996, with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying it appeared to have been “motivated by Islamic State” group ideology.
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