RAMLE — An 11-year-old boy was stabbed several times in the back in the central Israeli city of Ramle on Monday.
The boy told police the attacker in the incident was an Arab man. The attacker fled the scene.
A 17-year-old suspect was arrested after a short manhunt. The suspect is from Jawarish, an Arab neighbourhood of Ramle, according to police. Ramle is a mixed Jewish-Arab city.
The victim said he was walking down the street when the assailant stopped to ask him a question. According to the Walla news site, the assailant asked for a lighter, and the boy said he did not have one. The boy said the assailant then began stabbing him in the back with scissors.
He was taken to a nearby hospital in moderate condition, police said.
Police are investigating whether the attack was terror-related.
It is the second stabbing in Ramle in less than a week. On Thursday, two Arab-Israeli teenage girls stabbed a guard at the city’s central bus station.
Also on Monday, police arrested an Arab woman from eastern Jerusalem at the Damascus Gate outside of the Old City of Jerusalem. She carrying what police described as a large knife. She was stopped after police noticed she was acting suspiciously.
