A Bergen County man has been arrested for an assault that happened outside a downtown Jersey City bar Sunday night.

The victim described it as a hate crime, but Jersey City police authorities tell NJ Spotlight News they aren't investigating the incident as a bias attack.

Mo Hamzeh, a Palestinian-American man, says he was assaulted outside a bar after another patron asked where he was from.

He says a group of attackers yelled slurs at him and called him a terrorist, then punched him in the face, kicked and spit on him.

31 year old Fadel Abdallah was charged with aggravated assault, but the Jersey City police says the investigation remains active.

Now, according to the FBI's Newark field office, incidents of hate and bias against Arab and Jewish Americans have increased by roughly 500% since the start of the Israel-Hamas war when compared to the nine months previous.

The conflict is now in the seventh day of a temporary truce.

The extension on the pause in the fighting followed an intense last minute deal with Hamas to free more hostages and get more aid into Gaza.

So far, 70 Israeli hostages have been released and 210 Palestinian prisoners freed from the warring sides.