At least one person was killed and an unknown number of others wounded Friday when an American tourist fired a number of shots at people in a hotel in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed to Xinhua.

Police have surrounded the hotel and have called in "a large number of units to deal with the situation", spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Israel Radio said the gunman had grabbed the weapon from a security guard, shot a hotel employee, then fled and barricaded himself inside his room.