An American tourist was stabbed to death by a Palestinian in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Tuesday in an attack in which at least nine other people were wounded, Israeli police said.

The attack took place along a boardwalk near a beach in the Jaffa area popular with tourists.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said four of the wounded had severe injuries.

Police said the attacker, whom they did not identify, had been "neutralized".

Three Palestinian assailants were killed earlier on Tuesday after attacking Israelis.

The violence occurred as Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel for a two-day visit.

A fresh diplomatic row between Israel and the U.S. also arose as Biden arrived, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government announced it had canceled a planned meeting with President Barack Obama without first informing the White House.

It was a rough start to Biden’s visit, which was intended in part to assess the prospects for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

Biden’s first stop from the airport was at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa, about a mile south of where the fatal stabbing occurred. Israeli police said in a statement that the victim was a U.S. citizen but didn’t provide identification.

Arriving in a motorcade under tight security, the vice president opened his visit by meeting Shimon Peres, Israel’s 92- year-old former president, noting the “terror incidents” nearby. He was to meet with Netanyahu later.

Also on the agenda for Biden and his hosts was discussion of Israel’s request to increase the amount of military aid it gets from the U.S., now about $3.1 billion a year.