Four Israelis wounded in Tel Aviv stabbing spree

Israeli police said on Sunday that a Palestinian youth stabbed and injured at least four people near the shore in Tel Aviv, Israel's business capital.

The incident took place in Hayarkon Street, across from the sea, where many of Tel Aviv's large hotels are located.

Local media reported that the assailant, who apparently works in the area, first attacked a man near the Harrod's Hotel and then fled to the Leonardo Hotel, continuing his attack.

Israel's MDA emergency medical service said that three men and a woman, who are all Israeli citizens, sustained light injuries. They were taken to the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.

The police initially announced that the background for the incident was unclear, but a later statement said the "investigation revealed that the attack was carried out for nationalistic motives."

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri identified the suspect as an 18-year-old resident of Nablus, a city in the central West Bank, a territory that Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war.

She added that the suspect was arrested and taken into custody.

The incident was the latest in a wave of violence that has claimed the lives of at least 241 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two U.S. nationals, a British tourist, and two African asylum seekers since September 2015.

Israel accuses the Palestinian National Authority of "inciting" the unrest. The Palestinians say it is the result of 50 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, home to more than 5 million Palestinians. Endit