A 74-year-old protester was attacked by a motorcyclist Monday during a demonstration calling for a hostage deal, outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Shortly afterwards, a car appeared to drive into a crowd of protesters, lightly injuring several people, according to the Haaretz news site.

The elderly demonstrator, who was transferred to Ichilov Hospital, had been blocking Begin Road alongside other protesters outside the military complex, as participants read aloud the names of the hostages still held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip.

According to Hebrew reports, the demonstrator was repeatedly punched by the assailant, who drove off after the beating.

The wounded protester told Haaretz that he had been walking with signs between the cars on the road when the man came up to him on his motorcycle.

“I stopped him, he told me to move, I said I wouldn’t move, he got off the scooter. I told him not to touch me. He started punching me — I didn’t understand what was happening,” he recounted to the daily.

Police said in a statement that one suspect, a 21-year-old resident of the overwhelmingly ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak,........

© The Times of Israel