Palestinian Terrorist Attack Leaves Four Wounded in Tel Aviv

A stabbing attack near the Leonardo Beach Hotel in Tel Aviv left four people wounded on Sunday afternoon, Israel Police said.

Authorities said that the suspect, an 18-year-old Palestinian from the Nablus area, committed the attack out of nationalistic motivations.

The wounded were evacuated with light injuries to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.

"Close to 1:50 p.m. we received a report on a number of injured. We arrived very quickly to the scene within a few seconds. We arrested a suspect adjacent to the [Leonardo Beach Hotel]," Tel Aviv District police officer Shlomi Sagiv told press at the scene. "From an initial investigation we are speaking of a lone attacker who arrived to the boulevard area and attacked four people."

Sagiv said the circumstances that led to the incident are being checked. "We are speaking about an 18-year-old resident of the West Bank. How he entered and why he entered is currently being investigated."

According to authorities, the assailant first made his way to Tel Aviv's popular beachside promenade with a small, unidentified weapon.

Upon entering the Leonardo Hotel, he charged and attacked an employee working inside the hotel before assaulting three others, lightly wounding two men and one woman.

Israel Police quickly arrived at the scene along with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), arrested the suspect and began investigating the circumstances of the incident.

The wounded employee of the Leonardo Hotel recalled the incident: "I was standing in the lobby with my husband, helping a customer, when the (suspect) entered the hotel. He was staring at me and I asked him what he wanted. That's when he struck me in the ear with something and fled."

Magen David Paramedics who treated the victims later said that when they arrived at the scene of the attack, the "police had blocked traffic and led (MDA paramedics) to the three people suffering from light injuries ... They were fully conscious from wounds to the head and body."

"We provided them with emergency care on the scene," MDA continued, "and evacuated the wounded to a nearby hospital for further treatment."