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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Three Israeli teenagers were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of assaulting a Palestinian cleaner in Tel Aviv on Feb. 24, Israeli police said.

Three youths aged between 15 and 17 were arrested in Tiberias in connection with the assault of Hassan Ausruf, who was employed by the Tel Aviv municipality, Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told Ma'an.

All three are being questioned about the incident, he added.

Ausruf says he was attacked by a group of Jewish youths in Tel Aviv who shouted racist slogans at him during the assault.

"Suddenly a large group came over; they yelled at me 'You're an Arab. You want a state? Is that what you want?'" the Israeli news site Ynet quoted him as saying.

A co-worker of Ausruf said it was a "lynching, plain and simple," according to Israeli media.

The arrests come amid a spate of racist attacks in Israel against Palestinians.

Last week, a group of Jewish women attacked a Palestinian woman while she was waiting at a light rail station in Jerusalem and beat her severely.

The victim of the assault, identified as Hana Amtir, told Israel's Channel 2 television that four women had approached her and asked if she was Arab.

After telling them she was, they spat on her and one of them started to shout "Arab, Arab," the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

Israeli police arrested three women in relation to the assault.

An Israeli police official said at their court hearing that they called Amtir an "Arab b**ch," removed her Hijab and punched her, Ynet reported.

The Israeli court decided to release the three suspects, but banned two from entering Jerusalem for 45 days and the third for 30 days, Ynet said.