Several dead in central Israel shooting spree

A pair of gunmen have killed two people and wounded four others in a shooting spree in central Israel before they were killed by police, according to police and medical officials, as the US secretary of state and three Arab foreign ministers visited the country for a summit.

The shooting on Sunday in Hadera, a city about 50 km north of Tel Aviv, was the second deadly attack carried out by assailants in an Israeli city in less than a week. On Tuesday, a lone attacker killed four people in a stabbing rampage in southern Israel before he was killed by passersby.

Israeli security officials, according to the AP news agency, said the gunmen were supporters of the Daesh terror group who were Arab citizens from northern Israel. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

'Heinous' attack

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett rushed to the scene.

Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Yair Lapid briefed his counterparts from the US and four Arab countries, who condemned the attack. Lapid issued a statement calling it "heinous" and "an attempt by violent extremists to terrorise and to damage the fabric of life here."

"We condemn today's terrorist attack in Hadera, Israel," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on Twitter. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But Hamas, which governs besieged Gaza, praised the attack as a "heroic operation."

Security camera footage circulating on Israeli media showed two men appearing to open fire in the city of Hadera before they are shot. An Israeli official said two members of the Israeli Border Police counterterrorism unit were in a restaurant near the attack, ran out and killed the assailants.

The Israeli rescue service MADA confirmed the deaths of one man and one woman, and said four people were wounded, two seriously. It released videos showing large numbers of police cars and ambulances in the area.