West Bank-Jordan border crossing shooting kills 3 Israeli security guards
PM Netanyahu denounced assailant as a ‘despicable terrorist’; Hamas praised attack but did not claim responsibility
Three people were shot and killed on Sunday at the border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, Israeli officials said.
It was the first attack of its kind along the border with Jordan since October 7, when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas carried out an assault on southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza that has escalated throughout the region.
The attack took place in a commercial cargo area under Israeli control where Jordanian trucks offload cargo entering the West Bank, officials said. The crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, lies about midway between Amman and Jerusalem just north of the Dead Sea.
The assailant was a 39-year-old truck driver who came from the influential Huwaitat tribe in southern Jordan, according to family members. He was later identified by the Jordanian interior ministry as Maher Ziab Hussein al-Jazi, a resident of the Husseiniya area in Jordan’s southern Ma’an governorate.
“A terrorist approached the area of the Allenby Bridge from Jordan in a truck, exited the truck, and opened fire at the Israeli security forces operating at the bridge,” the Israeli military said.
“The terrorist was eliminated by the security forces, three Israeli civilians were pronounced dead as a result of the attack.”
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said the security guards were all men in their 50s.
