Israeli security forces launched a massive manhunt on Friday for two Palestinians suspected of killing three people in an attack in a central Israeli city, police said.

The attack on Thursday night, Israel’s Independence Day, is the latest in a recent upsurge of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has raised fears of a slide back to wider conflict.

“We will get our hands on the terrorists and their supportive environment, and they will pay the price,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said after the attack in the city of Elad, about 15km from Tel Aviv.

Witnesses and emergency responders said the attackers used axes. Four other people were seriously injured. Police identified the assailants as two Palestinians from the Jenin area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.