'Mass stabbing' at US rabbi's house

Multiple people were stabbed at a Jewish place of worship in upstate New York late Saturday night, a public affairs group said.

"At 9:50 this eve, a call came in about a mass stabbing... It's the house of a Hasidic Rabbi. 5 patients with stab wounds, all Hasidic, were transported to local hospitals," the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC) tweeted.

Two people were reportedly in critical condition, OJPAC added.

CBS New York reported that a man brandishing a machete went into the rabbi's property in Monsey, New York State, an area with a large Jewish population, during a Hanukkah celebration and knifed at least three people before fleeing.

Yossi Gestetner, a co-founder of the OJPAC for the Hudson Valley region, told the New York Times one of the victims was a son of the rabbi.

"The house had many dozens of people in there," Gestetner said. "It was a Hanukkah celebration."