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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Two Israeli Jews were attacked and lightly injured Friday evening in East Jerusalem after "provoking" local residents in the Palestinian neighborhood of al-Tur, witnesses said.

Witnesses said that three Israeli settlers were driving in their car in al-Tur, near the Mount of Olives, before suddenly stopping, exiting the car, and "provoking" residents.

Clashes then erupted between them and local residents in which two of the three Israelis were stabbed, before they fled in their car.

After the incident, witnesses said Jewish settlers attacked several shops in al-Tur and attempted to assault people before they were stopped by locals, which caused further clashes in the area.

The two victims, aged 24 and 21, were reportedly walking to a yeshiva in the settlement of Beit Orot, near the Mount of Olives in the middle of a Palestinian neighborhood, when they were targeted.

An Israeli police spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Ynet reported that the two Israeli settlers were injured with "stones, metal rods, and nails" and were treated by paramedics.

Police told the site that the two were attacked while walking from the nearby al-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem, and that police were searching for the assailants.

The incident comes just hours after an Israeli settler ran a Palestinian woman over near Shufat in East Jerusalem as she was walking to prayer.

At least four anti-Palestinian hate crimes were reported overnight across Israel and in Jerusalem, amid a wave of Jewish violence against Palestinians in the wake of a massive Israeli assault on Gaza over summer and a crackdown on Palestinian residents.

In recent weeks multiple Palestinians have carried out attacks targeting individual Israelis in Jerusalem as heavy-handed police responses against already impoverished and besieged local communities have fueled public anger.