Jordanian gunman kills three Israelis at West Bank crossing in ‘despicable act of terror’ before being shot and killed – as war in Gaza rages on
A Jordanian gunman has shot dead three Israeli guards at a border crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, killing them himself as fighting continues in Gaza.
The Jordanian Interior Ministry identified the gunman as Maher Diab Hussein al-Jazi, after the Israeli military confirmed he had been “neutralized.”
According to the military, “a terrorist” reached the crossing area, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, in a truck “from Jordan.”
According to a military statement, “the driver got out of the truck and opened fire on Israeli security forces operating on the bridge.”
The rare attack at the Allenby Bridge comes amid rising violence in the West Bank, with major Israeli raids and attacks by Palestinians.
Jordan’s Interior Ministry identified the gunman as Maher Diab Hussein al-Jazi, after the Israeli military confirmed he had been “eliminated” (pictured: Israeli soldiers walking, near 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 raids and attacks by Palestinians (Photo: Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip)
Violence in the West Bank has increased, as has the war in Gaza that began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 (Photo: People are seen in the area after the Israeli army attack on 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 not in the army or police.
According to the military, the attacker was shot dead.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attacker a “despicable terrorist” driven by a “murderous ideology” he said was fueled by Iran.
Hamas praised the attack but did not claim responsibility for it. According to Hamas, the attack confirms that “the Arab people reject the (Israeli) occupation, its crimes and its ambitions in Palestine and Jordan.”
The Jordan Valley crossing is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank that does not require them to enter Israel. Israel has occupied the territory since 1967.
Violence in the West Bank has increased, as has the war in Gaza that began after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
On August 28, the Israeli army launched simultaneous attacks on several towns and refugee camps in the northern West Bank, killing at least 36 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.
The army said it had killed 35 militants. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed at least 14 of the dead as members.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7.
The army told AFP that three Israelis working as “security guards” were killed in the shooting, adding that they were not in the army or police
The military said “a terrorist” reached the border area, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, in a truck “from Jordan” (pictured: Israeli troops investigate the site after a truck driver opened fire)
The driver “got out of the truck and opened fire on Israeli security forces operating on the bridge,” a military statement said
At least 23 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, according to Israeli officials.
According to official Israeli figures, the Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,205 people, mostly civilians. A number of hostages were also killed while in captivity.
Militants captured 251 hostages during the attack, 97 of whom are still being held in Gaza, 33 of whom are dead, according to the Israeli military.
At least 40,972 people have been killed in the Hamas-ruled area in the Israeli retaliatory offensive in Gaza so far, according to the Health Ministry.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, most of the dead are women and children.
On Sunday, Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes and shelling, while prospects for a ceasefire remained bleak. In the evening, the army reported that two rockets had been fired from northern Gaza into the Ashkelon area.
One of them was intercepted, while the other crashed off the coast of the city of Ashkelon, the report said.
Nearly a dozen people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Sunday, including five in the Jabalia refugee camp, according to Gaza’s civil protection agency.
According to the Israeli military, about 25 Hamas targets in Gaza have been attacked in the past day.
For the 2.4 million Palestinians living in Gaza, there has been no respite. Almost all of them have been displaced at least once.
âIt is stressful to move from one area to another because there is no safe place in Gaza,â said Raeed Hamad, 51, a cancer patient from the southern town of Khan Yunis.
People check a burned-out car a day after an attack by Jewish settlers on the village of Jit near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, which left a 23-year-old man dead and others seriously wounded, on August 16, 2024
According to a BBC analysis, there are now at least 196, 29 of which appeared last year in flagrant violation of UN resolutions and international law.
‘We have been displaced under heavy bombardment… I have lost weight and am exhausted.’
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza on Sunday, where he reiterated his pledge to eliminate Hamas.
But he said the army is also concentrating on the northern front, where the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchanged fire on Sunday.
âWhile you are fighting here in Gaza, we are preparing for anything that might happen in the north,â Gallant told the soldiers, according to a statement from his office.
‘The shift in center of gravity can happen quickly and can also have consequences for you within a short time.’
Hamas demands a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of a ceasefire, but Israel insists that troops must remain along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt are all mediating efforts to broker a ceasefire.
Palestinians have warned of increasing attacks by armed settlers who they say are often backed by the military and forcibly removing them from their homes.
Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters have been pressuring the government for weeks, demanding a deal that would include the release of hostages.
A smaller crowd of several hundred people gathered in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening carrying Israeli flags and signs calling on the government to “stop the war” and release the hostages.
“We will not leave them in Gaza,” they chanted, some beating drums. “We will not leave them there… We do not want more deaths, it is time for agreements.”
International pressure to end the war has also increased after Friday’s deadly shooting in the West Bank in which Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the area.
Her family, Turkey and the UN rights office all said Israeli forces killed her. The Israeli military said the incident was under investigation.