The Rehovot teen stabbed to death early Saturday morning by one of his peers was "another murder over nothing," said Shefela region police chief Commander Yifrach Duchovny.

Police said Adameh Tarikan, 17, was killed by a 16-year-old member of a rival group of young men from the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Rehovot, as the groups were wandering the city aimlessly, as they usually do on Friday nights.

Duchovny said about 10 days ago, one teen insulted another. The two met up on Friday night and began to fight, and Tarikan tried to separate them. The two groups continued to curse each other as they walked through the streets.

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When the teens cut from Herzl Street, Rehovot's main street, toward Ben Yehuda Street, the conflict heated up again. According to the main suspect in the murder, Tarikan attacked a good friend of his. The suspect then pulled a switchblade from his pocket and allegedly stabbed Tarikan in the chest. He then fled the scene with two of his friends, hid the knife in an abandoned building and quickly changed clothes.

Tarikan, who was seriously injured, remained at the scene with his friends, who called the police. A large number of officers arrived quickly, since a unit had been patrolling nearby as part of regular Friday night procedures.

Tarikan was taken to Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot, where he died.

A special investigations team set up to apprehend the three suspects, whose identity was known, found them at around 8 A.M. During interrogation throughout the day they denied any connection to the murder.

However, at 1 P.M., Chief Inspector Ezra Goldstein told the main suspect "you have 30 second to confess to murder." The teen subsequently confessed, and he and the two alleged accomplices reenacted the murder for police.

The suspect is known to the police for vandalism, violence and possession of a knife. Like the two other suspects, he had dropped out of school.

The victim was a student at the ORT school in Rehovot and had no police record.

His neighbors described him as "a good boy and an excellent student."