Jewish man knifed, lightly hurt in Old City altercation

A Jewish man sustained a minor knife wound to the head Friday evening in an apparent altercation between young Jews and Arabs in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Channel 2 television said police had ruled out a terror attack, while Army Radio reported that an initial investigation showed the incident happened during a heated verbal exchange between three Jews and three Arabs.

One suspect gave himself up to police immediately after the incident, Channel 2 said. Army Radi said two suspects were taken in for questioning by police.

The wounded man, an ultra-Orthodox Jew aged 20, was brought by his companions to Magen David Adom rescue personnel close to the site of the incident. He was then taken to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem for treatment, in a conscious and stable condition.

Tensions in the capital have spiraled in recent months, amid a spate of Palestinian attacks on Jewish Israelis. Twenty-nine Israelis and three foreign nationals have been killed in the wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence since October. Nearly 170 Palestinians have also been killed — some two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops — according to the Israeli army.

On Friday morning, a soldier was lightly hurt when a Palestinian woman drove her car into troops at Gush Etzion Junction in the West Bank, not far from Jerusalem.