A truck driver shot dead three Israeli guards at a border crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan Sunday before being “eliminated”, Israel’s military said, as it pounded Hamas targets in Gaza.
The rare attack at the Allenby Bridge crossing comes amid soaring violence in the West Bank with major Israeli raids and attacks by Palestinians, and against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas Gaza war, now in its 12th month.
A truck driver “exited the truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces operating at the bridge”, a military statement said.
“Three Israeli civilians were pronounced dead as a result of the attack,” it said, later clarifying to AFP that they were “security guards” and not in the army or police.
The attacker was shot dead, the military added, without providing his name or nationality.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the assailant as a “despicable terrorist” inspired by “a murderous ideology” which he said was fuelled by Iran.
Hamas praised the attack but did not claim responsibility for it.
The Palestinian militant group said in a statement that the shooting “affirms the Arab peoples’ rejection of the (Israeli) occupation, its crimes, and its ambitions in Palestine and Jordan”.
Jordan’s interior ministry said authorities were “investigating the incident”.
The crossing, in the Jordan Valley, is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank that does not require entering Israel, which has occupied the territory since 1967.
Soaring West Bank violence
Violence in the West Bank has surged alongside the war in Gaza which began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
Israel’s military on August 28 launched simultaneous raids across several cities and refugee camps in the northern West Bank, killing at least 36 Palestinians, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.
Since October 7, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
On Sunday, Israel carried out several air strikes in Gaza as prospects remained dim for a ceasefire to secure the release of remaining hostages held there.
An Israeli missile killed five people in Jabalia refugee camp, and overnight shelling hit parts of central Gaza, the territory’s civil defence agency reported.
Witnesses told AFP they saw air strikes and fire from a military helicopter in Gaza city.
Israeli military said it had struck around “25 Hamas targets” across Gaza over the past day.
With AFP
