Two people have been killed in what police say was a “rolling terror attack” in northern Israel.

Police said the attacker ran over a pedestrian in the eastern city of Beit Shean, then drove on before stabbing a woman near Ein Harod, about 8 miles (12.5km) to the west. The suspect was eventually shot and wounded by a civilian outside the city of Afula, according to police.

Shimshon Mordechai, a 68-year-old man, was killed and a 16-year-old boy was hurt in Friday’s ramming, officials said, while the stabbing victim was Aviv Maor, aged 18.

A day before the attack, an Israeli reservist was fired after video emerged of him ramming a praying Palestinian with a quad bike.

The suspect in the attack came from the village of Qabatiya, in the northern occupied West Bank, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.

Following the incident, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was preparing to carry out an operation in the Qabatiya area. Katz said he had instructed the IDF to act “forcefully and immediately”.

The IDF said the suspect had “infiltrated into Israeli territory several days ago”.

Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster said the 37-year-old man had been working illegally in Israel and had used his employer’s vehicle in the attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed “deepest condolences” to the victims’ families.

In a post on X, he also praised “the heroic citizen who neutralised the terrorist”.

The incident comes a day after the army reservist drove a quad bike into a Palestinian man who was praying on a roadside in the West Bank.

Video shows the man, dressed in civilian clothes but with a firearm, ramming the victim with the vehicle. Reports say the victim was unhurt.

The Israeli military said the soldier – who had earlier opened fire in a nearby village – had been fired and his weapon confiscated.

Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians have surged in the West Bank in recent years, according to the United Nations, with more than a thousand killed since the Hamas attacks on Israel of 7 October 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted into Gaza.

More than 70,600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Additional reporting by Tom McArthur

Israel has become the first country to formally recognise Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent nation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel intended to immediately expand cooperation in agriculture, health, and technology. Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, called the development “a historic moment”.

Recognition by Israel could encourage other nations to follow suit, increasing the region’s diplomatic credentials and access to international markets.

But the decision has been condemned by the foreign ministers of Somalia, Egypt, Turkey and Djibouti, who in a statement affirmed their “total rejection” of Israel’s announcement.

Abdullahi said in a statement that Somaliland would join the Abraham Accords, in what he called a step toward regional and global peace.

Somaliland was committed to building partnerships, boosting mutual prosperity and promoting stability across the Middle East and Africa, he added.

The two countries had agreed to establish “full diplomatic ties, which will include the appointment of ambassadors and the opening of embassies”, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement on X.

“I have instructed my ministry to act immediately to institutionalise ties between the two countries across a wide range of fields,” he said.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s foreign minister held separate phone calls with his counterparts in Somalia, Turkey and Djibouti to discuss issues including Israel’s declaration.

In a statement, Egypt’s foreign ministry said the four countries reaffirmed their support for Somalia’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and warned against unilateral steps that could undermine stability or create what they called “parallel entities” to Somalia’s state institutions.

They also argued that recognising the independence of parts of sovereign states would set a dangerous precedent under international law and the United Nations Charter.

The statement added that the ministers reiterated their rejection of any plans to displace Palestinians outside their homeland.

Israel has for years been trying to bolster relations with countries in the Middle East and Africa, but recent wars including in Gaza and against Iran have been seen as a hindrance to democracy.

Historic deals struck late in Trump’s first term in 2020, known as the Abraham Accords, saw several countries including Muslim-majority United Arab Emirates and Morocco normalise relations with Israel, with other countries joining later.

Somaliland enjoys a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden, and has its own money, passports and police force. Born in 1991 after a war of independence against former dictator General Siad Barre, it has grappled with decades of isolation ever since.

With a population of almost six million, the self-proclaimed republic has recently been at the centre of several regional disputes involving Somalia, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Last year, an agreement between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base angered Somalia.