Updated | Five killed in West Bank attacks

At least five people have been killed in two attacks in Israel and the occupied West Bank according to international media.

In the first attack, two Israelis were stabbed to death and one other wounded by a Palestinian man at the entrance of a shop that serves as a synagogue in the city of Tel Aviv, Israeli police say.

Later, a third Israeli and two other people were killed in a gun and vehicle attack near a Jewish settlement.

Witnesses said the stabbings happened at the entrance to a shop in the south of the city that serves as a synagogue, while a prayer service took place.

The assailant was held by passers-by until police arrived.

One of the victims, a man in his 20s, was declared dead at the scene by the Magen David Adom ambulance service. The second was rushed to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

The assailant, who security officials said was a 36-year-old man from the West Bank village of Dura West Bank, was reportedly lightly wounded and is in custody.

Police said they believed he had acted alone, but were nevertheless searching for possible accomplices.

Hours after the incident, an attacker in a car opened fire at a busy junction and then crashed into a group of pedestrians, killing three people and injuring several others, the Israeli military added.

Israeli police said one of the dead was an Israeli, while Israeli media identified them as two Jews - an 18-year-old American tourist and a 50-year-old Israeli - and a Palestinian.

The military said the assailant was apprehended and was being questioned, while security forces were searching the area for possible accomplices.

A wave of violence over the past two months has claimed the lives of 14 Israelis and dozens of Palestinians.

Many of the Palestinian fatalities were attackers in near-daily stabbings of Israelis, shot by their victims or security forces. Others have been killed in clashes with troops in the occupied West Bank or in cross-border violence in Gaza.

Government of Malta extends condolences

The Government of Malta has expressed its sympathy with and extends its condolences to the relatives of the five victims who were killed and the others who were injured in two separate attacks in the West Bank and Tel Aviv.

"Malta condemns in the strongest possible terms this senseless violence and is concerned at this escalation which is becoming alarmingly characteristic of the region.

This upsurge in the tensions should be a clear call to both sides to put aside their differences and return to the negotiating table. Only the resumption of a political process will restore peace and provide a solution to the Middle East question."