Two dead in Israel stabbing, assailant killed

Israeli police and first responders gather at the scene of a reported stabbing attack in Holon in the southern suburb of Tel Aviv on August 4, 2024. [AFP]

Two people were killed Sunday and two others wounded in a stabbing attack near Tel Aviv, Israeli medics said, with police reporting a Palestinian suspect was "neutralised" and later died in hospital.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said in a statement that the "terrorist attack" took place in several locations in Holon, a southern suburb of Israel's commercial hub of Tel Aviv.

It comes at a moment of heightened tension in Israel and the wider Middle East, nearly 10 months into the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

The stabbing suspect, from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was "neutralised" by a police officer who arrived at the scene, the force said in a statement without elaborating.

The Shamir Medical Centre said the assailant was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to the hospital near Holon in a critical condition.

A 66-year-old woman and a man aged around 80 were badly wounded and died from their injuries shortly after the attack, the Wolfson Hospital in the city said.

Israeli news website Ynet said the pair, whose ages Magen David Adom earlier gave as 70, were married.

Two other men were wounded, the emergency service said.

A 68-year-old was in serious condition and a 26-year-old was moderately wounded.

"This was a complex and difficult terrorist attack, with the victims located in three different places, around 500 metres (yards) from each other," Magen David Adom said.

Regional tensions have soared as Iran and the Middle East armed groups it backs threatened retaliation for the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, which they blame on Israel, and an Israeli strike in Beirut hours earlier that killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the scene of Sunday's attack, where he told journalists: "Our war is not only against Iran, but also here in the streets".

"This is why we have armed the Israeli population with more than 150,000 gun permits," said the far-right politician who has loosened gun laws and repeatedly called on ordinary Israelis to carry arms.