At least six people have been killed in what Israeli authorities have called a terror attack after two gunmen opened fire in Tel Aviv.
Police said 12 people also were wounded, with six injured seriously, in the Tuesday evening (local time) attack in Jaffa, a mixed Arab-Jewish neighbourhood in the city's south.
The two gunmen first shot passengers on the city's light rail, according to paramedics.
"When we arrived, we saw a train car that, according to eyewitnesses, had been hit by gunfire during its journey along Jerusalem Boulevard and continued travelling until it stopped on Makhrozet Street," paramedics from Israel's emergency medical service Magen David Adom (MDA) said.
"Inside and around it were the injured. Unfortunately, four of them were found unconscious and without signs of life, and after medical examinations, we had to pronounce them dead at the scene."
Footage broadcast by Israeli television channels showed the two gunmen alighting from the train and opening fire on people on the platform.
Eyewitnesses described what they had seen to the Jerusalem Post.
"We were on the light rail when we suddenly heard gunfire from outside," a witness reportedly said.
"At first, we thought it was fireworks, but then we realised it was something much worse. There were many gunshots. We dropped to the floor, and people were crying. I saw someone bleeding on the ground."
Senior MDA paramedic Yousef Kourdi said when he arrived at the scene, there were still shots being fired.
"I noticed several victims near the train tracks suffering from gunshot wounds," he said.
The attackers then continued on foot and targeted people out for the evening on the popular Jerusalem Boulevard in Jaffa.
Police said the they had been "neutralised" by municipal security personnel and citizens with "personal firearms".
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the New York Times reported the two gunmen were Palestinian.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has responsibility for significant policy areas concerning the occupied West Bank, said the attackers came from the West Bank city of Hebron.
"I will now demand in the cabinet discussion that the family members of the abominable terrorists from Hebron who carried out the heinous attack in Jaffa be deported to Gaza tonight and their homes should be turned into ruins for them to see," he posted on X.
The attack came moments before a massive barrage of rockets from Iran sent people into bomb shelters across Israel, including in Tel Aviv.
Iran, Hezbollah launch strikes
In its attack on Tuesday, Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, Israel said.
Air strike alarms sounded across the country, and explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley.
Israelis piled into bomb shelters and reporters on state television lay flat on the ground during live broadcasts.
No injuries were reported in Israel, but one man was killed in the occupied West Bank, authorities there said.
The strike was the first time Iran's forces used their hypersonic Fattah missiles.
According to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, 90 per cent of the missiles successfully hit their targets in Israel.
Israel, however, said its air defences were activated and most missiles were intercepted "by Israel and a defensive coalition led by the United States," Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video on X.
"Iran's attack is a severe and dangerous escalation," he said.
Following the night of intense bombardment, Iran said early on Wednesday that its missile attack on Israel had finished — barring further provocation
"Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X early on Wednesday.
Israel and the US promised to retaliate, intensifying fears of a wider war.
"Iran made a big mistake tonight — and it will pay for it," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The United Nations Security Council has scheduled a meeting about the Middle East for Wednesday, and the European Union called for an immediate ceasefire.
Along with the attack from Iran, the Israeli military said Hezbollah had also launched rockets at central Israel, setting off air raid sirens and wounding a man.
Hezbollah said it had fired salvos of a new kind of medium-range missile at the headquarters of two Israeli intelligence agencies near Tel Aviv.
It also fired at Israeli communities near the Lebanese border.
In retaliation, Israel on Wednesday morning (local time) launched more than a dozen air strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in Beirut's southern suburbs, which have largely emptied after days of heavy bombardment.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon in the past two weeks, while hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
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