A Jordanian gunman shot dead three Israeli guards at a border crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan before being shot dead himself, as fighting continues in Gaza.
Jordan’s Interior Ministry identified the shooter as Maher Diab Hussein al-Jazi, after the Israeli military confirmed he had been “eliminated.”
The military said “a terrorist” arrived at the crossing area, also known as King Hussein Bridge, in a truck “from Jordan.”
The driver “got out of the truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces operating on the bridge,” according to a military statement.
The rare attack at the Allenby Bridge crossing comes amid rising violence in the West Bank with major Israeli incursions and Palestinian attacks.
Jordan’s Interior Ministry identified the shooter as Maher Diab Hussein al-Jazi, after the Israeli military confirmed he had been “eliminated” (pictured: Israeli soldiers walk at the Allenby Bridge crossing between the West Bank and Jordan)
The rare attack at the Allenby Bridge crossing comes amid rising violence in the West Bank with major Israeli incursions and attacks by Palestinians (pictured: Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip)
Violence in the West Bank has escalated alongside the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 (pictured: people are seen in the area after the Israeli army attacked the Amr Ibn al-Aas school in Gaza City)
The army told AFP that three Israelis working as “security guards” were killed in the shooting, adding that they were neither army nor police officers.
The attacker was shot dead, the military said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the attacker as a “despicable terrorist” inspired by “a murderous ideology” that he said was fueled by Iran.
Hamas praised the attack but did not claim responsibility, adding that it “affirms the Arab people’s rejection of the (Israeli) occupation, its crimes and its ambitions in Palestine and Jordan.”
The crossing, in the Jordan Valley, is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank that does not require entry into Israel, which has occupied the territory since 1967.
Violence in the West Bank has escalated alongside the war in Gaza that began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
The Israeli army launched simultaneous attacks on several towns and refugee camps in the northern West Bank on August 28, killing at least 36 Palestinians, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry.
The army claimed to have killed 35 militants. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed at least 14 of the deaths as members.
Since October 7, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The army told AFP that three Israelis working as “security guards” were killed in the shooting, adding that they were neither army nor police officers.
The army said “a terrorist” arrived at the crossing area, also known as King Hussein Bridge, in a truck “coming from Jordan” (pictured: Israeli forces investigate at the scene after a truck driver opened fire)
The driver “got out of the truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces operating on the bridge,” according to a military statement.
At least 23 Israelis, including members of the security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, Israeli officials say.
Hamas’s attack on Israel killed 1,205 people, mostly civilians, including some hostages killed in captivity, official Israeli figures show.
The militants took 251 hostages during the attack, 97 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 33 who the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 40,972 people, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
The UN human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
On Sunday, Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes and shelling as prospects for a ceasefire remained dim, while in the evening the military said two rockets were fired from northern Gaza towards the Ashkelon area.
One was intercepted, while the other fell off the coast of the city of Ashkelon, it said.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said nearly a dozen people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Sunday, including five in the Jabalia refugee camp.
The Israeli military said it had attacked around 25 Hamas targets in Gaza over the past day.
There has been no respite for the 2.4 million Palestinians living in Gaza, almost all of whom have been displaced at least once.
“Moving from one area to another is distressing because there is no safe place in Gaza,” said Raeed Hamad, 51, a cancer patient from the southern city of Khan Yunis.
People check a burnt car a day after an attack by Jewish settlers in the village of Jit, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, which left a 23-year-old man dead and others with serious gunshot wounds, on August 16, 2024.
There are now at least 196, including 29 last year in flagrant violation of UN resolutions and international law, according to a BBC analysis.
“We are displaced under heavy bombardment… I have lost weight and I am exhausted.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant toured the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza on Sunday, where he again vowed to eliminate Hamas.
But he said the military was also focused on the northern front, where the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchanged fire on Sunday.
“While you are fighting here in Gaza, we are preparing for whatever may happen in the north,” Gallant told the soldiers, according to a statement issued by his office.
‘The shift in the center of gravity can happen quickly and can also affect you in a short period of time.’
Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal, but Israel insists troops must remain along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been mediating efforts to forge a ceasefire.
Palestinians have warned of increasing attacks by armed settlers who they say are often backed by the military and forcibly expel them from their homes.
For weeks, tens of thousands of Israeli protesters have been pressuring the government to demand a deal that would mean the release of the hostages.
A smaller crowd of several hundred people gathered in Tel Aviv on Sunday night with Israeli flags and signs demanding the government “stop the war” and release the hostages.
“We will not leave them in Gaza,” they chanted, some beating drums. “We will not leave them down there… We do not want any more deaths, it is time to reach agreements.”
International pressure to end the war has also intensified following the fatal shooting in the West Bank on Friday of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the territory.
Her family, Turkey and the UN human rights office said she was killed by Israeli forces. The Israeli military said the incident was under investigation.