The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility after two Israeli police officers were shot dead in an attack in the northern Israeli city of Hadera.
Israeli Police said the gunmen were Israeli Arab citizens who stacked the policemen.
Four other people were taken to hospital after the attack in Hadera, and two others were treated at the site of the shooting.
Police in a statement said counterterrorism officers happened to be in a restaurant near the shooting and brought the attack to an end.
“Our officers managed to neutralise the assailants and prevent a bigger terrorist attack,” national police spokesman Eli Levy told Israeli TV.
However, the Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attack in a statement released by the Amaq propaganda site.
“Two members of the Jewish (state’s) police force were killed and others were injured in an immersive commando attack,” IS said in a rare claim for an attack inside Israel.
The attack comes days after an attacker identified as an IS supporter killed four Israelis in the southern city of Beersheba.
Intelligence group, SITE, said it was the first time IS had taken credit for an attack in Israel since 2017.
Hebrew media widely identified the two terrorists as Ayman and Ibrahim Ighbariah, cousins whom police said were residents of the central Arab city of Umm al-Fahm. Israel Police said the two arrived at the scene with 1,100 bullets, as well as at least three handguns and six knives.
The two terrorists opened fire at police along Samuel Herbert road in Hadera on Sunday night, Israel Police said. Two people were killed and several others were wounded before officers gunned down both Ighbariahs, according to police and medics.
Ibrahim, 31, was arrested in 2016 by Turkish police after trying to join the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria. He was later apprehended by Israeli security forces and served a year and a half in prison for membership in a terror group.
Sunday’s incident occurred as Israel hosts an historic summit with three Arab League states – Egypt, Bahrain and Jordan after they normalized toes during the Trump administration.