At least three people have been killed and several others injured in a possible terrorist attack in the central Israeli city of Eliad, according to police.
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According to Israeli media reports, two assailants, armed with knives and axes, targeted passersby in a park.
Police are still trying to identify the culprits, and barricades have been set up on nearby roads and vehicles are being searched. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a U.S. military base.
"This incident has deeply hurt my heart," said Moti Sunorat, a medical volunteer. "The dead went to the park for fresh air, but their lives were cut short," Moti Snowart told the Jerusalem Post.
In Eliad, local officials have urged residents to stay indoors. The majority of the city's population is made up of Israel's ultra-orthodox ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.
"The joy of Independence Day is over in an instant," said Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. A deadly attack in Eliad has shocked our hearts and souls.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken said in a press briefing that the United States "strongly condemns" this "horrific attack" on innocent men and women.
The incident is the latest in a series of deadly attacks by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs over the past few weeks, with 2006 being the deadliest period of such attacks in Israel.
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So far, 16 Israelis, including an Israeli Arab police officer, and two Ukrainians have been killed in a series of attacks.
Israel has responded by raiding Palestinian towns, killing at least 26 people, including those who were at work at the time.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have also been seen at the holy site in Jerusalem.
Israel holds Independence Day celebrations to pay tribute to those killed in conflict and deadly attacks.
The Jewish state was established on May 14, 1948, but such days are considered according to the Hebrew calendar.
The establishment of Israel by the Palestinians on May 15 is celebrated as a day of mourning called 'Al-Naqba' which means tragedy.
Supreme Court paves way for eviction of thousands of Palestinians from West Bank
Israel's Supreme Court has rejected a petition against the eviction of more than 1,000 residents from rural areas in the occupied West Bank. This is an area set aside by Israel for military exercises.
After two decades of litigation, the Supreme Court's late ruling on Wednesday paved the way for the demolition of eight small villages in the area.
The village is located in a rocky but fertile area near Hebron, such as the Palestinian Traveler Yata and the Israeli southern Hebron Hills.
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In its ruling, the court said it had found that a group of Palestinian settlers, a generation of nomadic nomads, had been employed in farming and animal husbandry, and that it was in the 1980s. There were no permanent residents in the area when the Israeli army declared the area a firing zone.
Ita residents and human rights groups in Israel say most Palestinian families had permanent residency in the 7,400-acre area before the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in the 1978 Middle East conflict.
"This proves that this court is also part of this occupation," said Nadal Abu Yunus, the mayor of Musafar Ita. We will not leave our homes. We will stay here.
The EU delegation to Palestine said in a statement that the deportation order violated international law. "As an occupying power, Israel has a responsibility to protect the Palestinian people, not to evict them," he said on Twitter.
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The Israeli military says the area was declared a firing range because it needed security at the time and there was no settlement.
According to the court, the door to negotiations is still open and if the people of the village use some part of the area for resource by consensus with the army and compromise is reached between the two sides.
In Israel, the Association for Civil Rights, which has filed a petition against the eviction of travelers to Ita, said it could have "unprecedented consequences."
"The High Court has formally allowed eviction and stripped all families, their children and adults of their heads," the ACRI said in a statement.
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