A tragic incident occurred at the border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank when a Jordanian man fatally shot three Israeli civilians. This is the first such event since the Gaza conflict, raising concerns of a possible regional escalation. The attacker was killed by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces.
The Allenby Bridge, also known as King Hussein Bridge, crosses River Jordan east of Jericho and near the Jordanian town of al-Karameh. It serves as the only official border crossing between Jordan and West Bank. On Sunday, following the attack, it was closed but reopened on Monday, though exclusively for pedestrians.
In a statement, IDF explained that “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.” They further added, “The terrorist was eliminated by the security forces; three Israeli civilians were pronounced dead as a result of the attack.
The victims have been identified by West Jerusalem as Yuri Birnbaum, Yohanan Shchori and Adrian Marcelo Podzamczer.
The closure of Allenby Bridge mainly impacts approximately three million Palestinians in the West Bank, who rely on Jordan to receive goods from the region.
Jordanian authorities have identified the attacker as Maher Ziab Hussein al-Jazi, a 39-year old man residing in Husseiniya of the Ma’an governorate. Amman has initiated an investigation into the incident.
Following the attack, hundreds of people in Jordan’s capital chanted in support of al-Jazi, declaring that he had avenged the deaths of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. This is according to a report by Reuters. The initial Hamas raids on October 7 last year were attributed to the deaths of around 1,200 Israelis. As of Sunday, almost 41,000 Palestinians in the enclave had been killed and almost 95,000 more wounded during subsequent Israeli military operations, according to Gaza health ministry data.
Jordan claimed control over present-day West Bank in 1949, annexing it the following year. Israel seized this territory as well as Gaza (previously occupied by Egypt) during the June 1967 war. However, Amman renounced all claims to the territory in the 1994 peace treaty with Tel Aviv.