Palestinian with knife arrested outside Hebron holy site

A Palestinian man was arrested Saturday near Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs in possession of a knife.

Border Police officers stationed at the religious site were alerted by the 19-year-old and found a blade on his person.

The suspect was taken in for questioning, Channel 10 reported.

No injuries were reported.

The Tomb of the Patriarchs, located in the heart of the West Bank’s most populous Palestinian city, is the site a Jewish and Muslim holy site, with a mosque situated atop the traditional burial site of the Biblical patriarchs.

The area near the tomb is heavily protected by Israeli security and has been the site of numerous Palestinian attacks since violence flared up in October.

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.

In an unrelated incident Saturday, two Israelis were robbed by two Palestinians while hiking in Wadi Shilo, in the West Bank. The two were lightly injured after their assailants sprayed them with pepper spray, then stole their bag and fled the scene, police said.

Security forces were searching for suspects.