Countdown star Rachel Riley has apologised and said she is “sorry” for sharing a tweet about the Sydney shopping mall stabbings.

The TV star, 38, is facing calls to be sacked by Channel 4 after incorrectly suggesting that the fatal attack was linked to a rise in support for Palestine.

The horrific event, which took place at a Westfield shopping centre in Bondi Junction on Saturday and killed six people, was carried out by Joel Cauchi, 40.

In a now-deleted post, Rachel wrote: “For six months now, people have been out on our streets proudly calling for the ‘Intifada Revolution’. If you want to know what ‘Globalised Intifada’ looks like, see the Sydney Mall.”

She continued: “Five victims stabbed to death and eight transferred to hospital, including a baby, due to one man and a knife.

“In the second intifada over 1,000 Israelis were murdered in restaurants, on buses and in the streets by suicide bombings, stabbings, stoning, lynching, shooting rockets. The youngest victim was just nine hours old. Sydney mall, multiple times over is what they’ve been proudly calling for.”