HERZLIYA, Israel, Dec 27, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A Palestinian man who had previously been an informant for Israeli security forces stabbed a woman in her eighties to death in the central city of Herzliya Friday, Israel's domestic security agency said.

The suspected attacker was "neutralised and arrested", Israeli police said in a separate statement.

The incident took place around 9:30 am (0730 GMT) at De Shalit Square in Herzliya, the police and medics reported.

"She was brought to the hospital with multiple stab wounds while undergoing resuscitation efforts, but the hospital staff was forced to pronounce her death upon arrival," Tel Aviv's Ichilov hospital said in a statement.

"We provided initial treatment, stopped the bleeding and treated her with medication, and evacuated her in critical condition," medic Idan Shina, from the Magen David Adom rescue service, said in a statement before the hospital announced her death.

Police said they were investigating the circumstances surrounding the attack.

"I can say that the terrorist is a resident of the (Palestinian) territories," Tel Aviv District Commander Haim Sargaroff told journalists at the site of the attack.

In a separate statement, Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency said the suspected attacker had been a former informant to Israeli security forces.

"The suspect in this morning's stabbing terror attack in Herzliya is a Palestinian resident of Samaria area (and) a former informant for Israeli security forces," Shin Bet said.

He had been "involved in thwarting terrorist networks in Judea and Samaria", it said, using the biblical name for the occupied West Bank.

"His cover was blown, and he was transferred to Israel for rehabilitation," the statement continued, noting that the suspect would be transferred to the agency for investigation into the circumstances of Friday's attack.

Since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year, there have been several attacks in Israel carried out by Palestinian militants.

At least 31 people, including Israeli soldiers, have been killed in such attacks in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.