This is the first cross-border attack here since October 7, when the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, sparking the Gaza war, a war that has escalated tensions across the region.
The attack occurred at an Israeli-controlled commercial loading zone where trucks from Jordan unload goods into the West Bank. The checkpoint, also known as King Hussein Bridge, is located between Amman and Jerusalem north of the Dead Sea.
The attacker was a 39-year-old truck driver from the Huwaitat tribe in southern Jordan. Jordan's interior ministry later identified him as Maher Ziab Hussein al-Jazi, a native of Husseiniya in the southern Jordanian province of Ma'an.
“The terrorist approached the Allenby Bridge area from Jordan in a truck, got out and opened fire on Israeli security forces operating in the area… The terrorist was killed by security forces, three Israelis were killed in the attack,” the Israeli military said.
Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad.
Jordan is investigating the shooting. The Jordanian interior ministry said Allenby Bridge, a key checkpoint for trade between Jordan and Israel, was one of five land border checkpoints between the two countries that had been closed. The checkpoint serves the more than 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.
The Israeli checkpoint chief said three officers were killed by gunmen from Jordan.
Anti-Israel sentiment is rife in Jordan, and hundreds took to the streets of the capital Amman to celebrate the attack, claiming the gunman had avenged the lives of thousands of Palestinians killed in the Gaza war.
Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994 and established strong security ties. Dozens of trucks from Jordan enter Israel every day, carrying goods from Jordan and the Gulf for the West Bank and Israeli markets.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has urged all parties involved to investigate the incident to prevent future attacks.
Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)
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