Four people were lightly wounded when a Palestinian man attacked them in Tel Aviv on Sunday, in what police say was a terror attack.

The assailant, who has been detained, was identified as an 18-year-old resident of Nablus in the West Bank, and carried out the attack using work tools at his disposal.

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He first reached the Herods Hotel on Tel Aviv's waterfront promenade on Sunday around lunchtime and began attacking passersby at the scene. A 70-year-old man was lightly wounded.

The assailant then fled the scene in the direction of the nearby Leonardo Hotel, where he wounded another three people. They suffered light wounds in the form of stabs and cuts.

A man at the scene apprehended the assailant, who was then detained by nearby police forces. During his interrogation, the assailant said that he works in Israel and decided to carry out an attack against Jews. He has since been taken for questioning by the Shin Bet security service.

The perpetrator had an entry permit for a visit to Israel, which was issued Sunday at the request of Natural Peace Tours, a Tel Aviv-Jaffa based travel and tourism service for Palestinians.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, instructed that permits for visits to Israel be suspended for all institutions and organizations until an investigation is completed and lessons learned.

Following the incident, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said that "this is again a painful reminder of the difficult reality, especially on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day."