By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – In rapidly escalating tensions, a gunman crossing from Jordan killed three Israeli civilians at the Allenby Bridge border in the Israel-controlled West Bank, also known as Judea and Samaria, before security forces shot him dead on Sunday, Israeli authorities said.
It was the first attack of its kind along the border with Jordan since Palestinian Islamist group Hamas assaulted southern Israel on October 7, triggering the war in Gaza that has increased anxiety across the region.
The gunman – identified by the Israeli military as Jordanian Maher Jazi – approached the Allenby Bridge crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck, then got out and opened fire, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Security personnel “eliminated” the gunman, and the IDF checked the truck over for signs of explosives, a statement added.
Israeli sources said Jazi was a 39-year-old who had worked as a truck driver. Video footage showed the attacker walking to the terminal and firing his weapon three times before he was shot dead.
Jordan said it is investigating the incident, which happened in an Israeli-controlled area where Jordanian vehicles offload goods entering the Judea and Samaria Area.
The border point has now been closed from both sides, the Israel Airports Authority said, as were two land crossings between Israel and Jordan.
VICTIMS NAMED
Israeli media reported the victims were named Yohanan Shchori, 61, Yuri Birnbaum, 65, and Adrian Marcelo Podzamczer, whose age was not given.
The three men were believed to be guards working at the border crossing but were not military or police.
The Allenby Bridge crossing, near the Judea and Samaria Area’s city of Jericho, has been the scene of violence in the past: In 2014, Israeli soldiers fatally shot a Jordanian judge of Palestinian origin at the crossing, heightening tensions between the neighboring nations.
Last year, a Jordanian member of Parliament was reportedly charged in a Jordanian court with trying to smuggle weapons through the crossing into the West Bank.
Following Sunday’s attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the gunman as “an abhorrent terrorist” and extended his condolences to the families of the victims.
It was not immediately clear how the gunman managed to take a weapon into the Israeli-controlled part of the crossing.
The motive of the attacker was not immediately clear.
Hamas — which has called on people in Jordan to escalate protests and violence against Israel — praised the attack but did not take credit for it.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest Stories from Worthy News
A massive barrage of Israeli airstrikes hit Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon just after the terrorist group’s leader declared that two days of intense hybrid bombings, including the detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies targeting Hezbollah forces, amounted to a declaration of war.
Facing relentless violence against their communities by Islamic jihadist terror groups, 16.2 million Christians in sub-Saharan Africa have now been forced to flee their homes and live in poverty-stricken Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
A Pakistani court has sentenced Shagufta Kiran, a Christian mother of four, to death for “committing blasphemy against Islam,” a senior Christian advocacy activist told Worthy News Thursday.
Amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reiterated that the kingdom would not recognize Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Times of Israel reports. The Crown Prince made his remarks during an annual speech to the advisory Shura Council on Wednesday (September 18).
Taiwanese company Gold Apollo says that the pager model allegedly used by Hezbollah members that simultaneously exploded and killed numerous people, mainly in Lebanon, was made by its Hungarian partner.