The search took an unusually long time by Israeli standards.

But on Sunday morning the security forces announced that the two Palestinians who are said to have killed three Israelis on Thursday evening had been caught.

Security forces seized the two 19 and 20-year-old men, who are from near the West Bank city of Jenin, at a quarry near the central Israeli city of Elad, where the attack was committed.

They were apparently arrested unharmed.

"We said we would seize the terrorists, and that's what happened," said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the start of the cabinet meeting at noon.

Christian Meier

Political correspondent for the Middle East and Northeast Africa.

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For more than two days, a large contingent of police forces and employees of the army and secret service had searched for the perpetrators.

The entrances to the nearby West Bank were sealed off to prevent them from slipping back through one of the holes in the fence and back into Palestinian territory - which was apparently how they got to Israel.

However, as there were also fears that they could carry out another attack, residents of Israel were urged to be vigilant, particularly along the West Bank border, and not to take anyone in their cars with them.

According to the official account, the first victim of the perpetrators on Thursday evening was the taxi driver who had taken them to Elad.

They then attacked civilians with axes in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox Jewish community east of Tel Aviv.

They killed a total of three people - three men aged 49, 44 and 35 - and wounded four others, some seriously.

Then they fled.

The fact that the Israeli security forces need so long to find assassins is unusual.

After an attack in Tel Aviv in early April, it took a whole night before the perpetrator was found - and killed.

Great tension and violence

Thursday night's attack came as a particular shock to many Israelis because it came at the end of Independence Day, which in Israel is usually celebrated with family celebrations.

There was also hope that things would calm down after the end of the Islamic month of fasting, Ramadan.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned the attack.

Killing Palestinian and Israeli civilians only worsens the situation, it said in a statement.

Hamas praised the attack but did not claim responsibility for it.

Recently there had been several weeks of great tension and violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

There had been repeated clashes between Israeli police officers and mainly younger Palestinians on the Al-Aqsa plateau in Jerusalem, and the Israeli military had conducted several operations in the West Bank.

A total of 17 people have been killed in five attacks in Israel since March, and there was one attack that killed one in a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

At the same time, at least 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces since the beginning of the year;

most of them had committed attacks or, according to Israeli sources, been involved in confrontations with security forces.

Bennett said on Sunday that Israel was at the beginning of "a new phase in the fight against terrorism": Even those who incited violence should "not sleep easy".

In the wake of the attack, calls for the killing of Yahya al-Sinwar have been raised in Israel.

The leader of the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip denounced the Israeli attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in a speech about a week ago and threatened retaliation if this didn't end.

Addressing Palestinians, he said: "Anyone with a gun should have it ready.

And if you don't have one, have your ax or knife ready.” Hamas warned Sunday that an attack on al-Sinwar or any of its leaders would trigger an earthquake in the region.