JERUSALEM, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The foreign minsiter of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday condemned a deadly ax attack in central Israel.
In a phone conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan "strongly condemned" the attack, in which three civilians were killed, and conveyed condolences to the victims' families, Lapid tweeted.
"We both expressed hope that days of peace and security will come soon for the people of Israel," he added.
On Thursday night, Israeli authorities said two Palestinians armed with axes attacked passers-by in the central Israeli city of Elad, a Jewish ultra-Orthodox city east of Tel Aviv, killing at least three people and wounding four others before fleeing the scene.
Israel condemned the killers as terrorists and has launched a manhunt for them. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack comes amid Israel's celebration of the 74th Independence Day and the spiralling Israeli-Palestinian tensions caused by a recent spate of deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis, Israeli raids in the West Bank, and repeated clashes between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. ■
