In a rare attack at an Israeli-controlled crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, a gunman killed three Israeli workers Sunday before being shot dead, the Israeli military said.
The Allenby Bridge crossing point, also known as the King Hussein crossing, is the only one with Jordan that leads into the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near the desert city of Jericho. Other crossings to the north and south connect with Israel proper; all three land crossings were temporarily closed after the attack.
Jordan is at peace with Israel, but relations have been tense since the outbreak of the 11-month-old war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Jordan, whose population is largely Palestinian, has heatedly denounced Israel’s conduct of the war, in which some 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.
Much of the enclave lies in ruins, and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced, many repeatedly.
Israel is also engaged in a lower-intensity conflict on its northern border with the Lebanese group Hezbollah. The two sides engage in near-daily exchanges of fire, and thousands of people have been driven from their homes on both sides of the frontier. Sirens sounded in northern Israel again on Sunday, and the military said dozens of rockets fired from Lebanon were intercepted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the bridge attack an act of terror, linked it to wider regional conflict.
“We are surrounded by a murderous ideology led by Iran’s axis of evil,” he said at the start of a government meeting.
The Israeli military did not identify the gunman, who arrived by truck at the crossing and opened fire, apparently targeting Israeli security forces, according to the army statement. Israeli news reports cited officials as saying the shooter was a Jordanian national.
The slain Israeli men, all in their 50s, were forklift operators, according to Israel’s airports authority, which oversees the country’s borders.
Jordan’s interior ministry said it was investigating the attack, according to the state-run Petra news agency. Hamas, which has urged militants in neighboring countries to attack Israel, issued a statement praising the shooting, but did not claim any involvement.
The crossing’s closure further isolated Palestinians in the West Bank, for whom it is the primary pathway for overseas travel. It is extremely difficult for West Bank Palestinians to obtain permission to depart or arrive via Israel’s main international airport, Ben Gurion.
The crossing is also heavily used for cargo destined for the West Bank and Gaza.
The war in Gaza has coincided with a surge of violence in the West Bank, where more than 600 Palestinians have been killed since October by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to United Nations figures. On Friday, a 26-year-old U.S. citizen, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, was shot dead while taking part in an anti-settlement protest near the Palestinian city of Nablus.
Witnesses said Israeli troops fired live ammunition at peaceful protesters. The military said it was investigating.
Israeli forces in August staged one of its biggest incursions in years into the northern West Bank, centered on the city of Jenin, which Israel said was aimed at cracking down on armed militant groups. Israeli troops pulled back late last week, leaving roads, buildings and infrastructure smashed and smoldering.
The Israeli military said it killed 14 militants in the course of the operation. Palestinian officials put the death toll at 36, but did not provide a breakdown of fighters and civilians.
The war in Gaza erupted last Oct. 7, when Hamas-led attackers broke through the border fence and killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, targeting an open-air music festival and a string of small farming communities. Some 250 people were taken hostage.
Israelis have been staging massive demonstrations demanding a cease-fire accord to free the hostages, fewer than 70 of whom are thought to remain alive inside Gaza. Israeli officials said Sept. 1 that Hamas days earlier had executed six hostages, including a California-born dual Israeli-U.S. national, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was 23.
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