The shootings, in the heart of Tel Aviv, are the latest in a wave of attacks in Israel.
Two people have been killed by at least one gunman in the centre of Tel Aviv, Israel, in the fourth attack of its kind in just over two weeks.
Some of the shootings are reported to have happened on Dizengoff Street, one of the busiest streets in the city.
Initial reports say a gunman has been killed, with a possible second attacker still at large.
It follows a spree of attacks by Israeli Arabs and a Palestinian which left 11 people dead.
Eight people were wounded in Thursday night’s shootings, four of them critically, Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital said.
Video from Dizengoff Street shows people running away as emergency vehicles pour into the area, sirens wailing. CCTV footage from an outside bar shows people drinking then suddenly dashing away at the moment of the attack, overturning chairs in the scramble to escape.
As security forces scoured the area, police appealed to people to stay indoors.
“Don’t leave your homes. Don’t stick your heads out of the window. Stay off your balconies,” police spokesman Eli Levy said on Channel 13 television.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is reportedly being debriefed at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv, about 1km (0.6 miles) from Dizengoff Street.
