Israeli authorities say a knife-wielding Palestinian man has stabbed a United States tourist to death on a popular boardwalk in the city of Tel Aviv.
The attack comes as United States vice president Joe Biden begins a diplomatic visit to Israel.
Mr Biden was in a meeting just a few kilometres away when the attack took place.
The stabbing is the latest in an ongoing wave of violence that has killed 28 Israelis and at least 177 Palestinians since last October, while peace talks remain on hold.
US vice president Joe Biden landed in Israel on a particularly violent day for the country.
A Palestinian man is said to have stabbed a US tourist to death in Tel Aviv and injured nine others before a police officer chased him down and shot him dead.
An Israeli police spokesman says it was not the only violent incident for the day.
"In four separate terrorist attacks that took place in different areas across Israel today, including Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv area Petah Tikva, and then in Jaffa, more than 15 Israelis were injured, including two police officers who were shot and are being treated in hospital. And in the attack that took place in Jaffa, one tourist was unfortunately killed, an American tourist. His wife was also seriously injured, and the rest of the people that were injured in that attack are being taken to hospital. Heightened security continues both in Jerusalem as well as in Tel Aviv in order to respond and prevent any further terrorist attacks."
Mr Biden will meet with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
He is also scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas.
The United States has lowered expectations for the trip, saying Mr Biden will not be pursuing any major new peace initiatives during his visit.
That is despite a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has killed more than 200 people since October last year.
The relationship between the United States and Israel has been tense recently, largely thanks to last year's US-led international nuclear deal with Iran, an arch-enemy of Israel.
But Mr Biden says the United States is committed to Israel's security.
"I am delighted to be here. The President sends his greetings. And we, have absolute total, unvarnished commitment to the security of Israel. And I hope we can ... I think we can make some progress."
The Israeli-Palestinan peace process has been on hold for some time.
The Wall Street Journal has reported the White House is working on plans to revive the talks before President Barack Obama leaves office.
But no formal announcement has been made.
Since October, stabbings, shootings and car rammings by Palestinians have killed 28 Israelis and two from the United States.
Israeli forces have killed at least 177 Palestinians, 119 of whom Israel says were assailants.
Most of the others were shot dead during violent protests.
Mr Biden's visit comes just after Mr Netanyahu cancelled a planned visit to Washington.
Mr Netanyahu says he only wanted to avoid arriving during the US presidential primaries.
But White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the White House only found out the meeting was cancelled through the media.
"There's no reason to consider this a snub. I think the question is simply a matter of scheduling, and the Israelis indicated that they had made plans in their schedule. I think we would have preferred to have heard about that in person before reading about it in media reports."
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