ALLENBY CROSSING, West Bank (AP) — Three Israelis were shot and killed Sunday at the border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, Israeli officials said, in what appeared to be an attack linked to the 11-month-old war in Gaza.
Jordan’s state-run Petra News Agency said he was transporting goods to the West Bank.
The Western-allied Arab country made peace with Israel in 1994 but is deeply critical of its policies toward the Palestinians.
Jordan has a large Palestinian population and has seen mass protests against Israel over the war in Gaza.
Hundreds of Jordanians marched in Amman to celebrate the attack, chanting slogans in support of al-Jazi and burning the Israeli flag.
The Allenby crossing over the Jordan River, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, is mainly used by Palestinians and tourists.
The Israeli-occupied West Bank has seen a surge of violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there.
Loved ones mourned Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American-Turkish woman shot dead on Friday in the West Bank.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories the Palestinians want for a future state — in the 1967 Mideast war.
ALLENBY CROSSING, West Bank (AP) — Following what appeared to be an attack connected to the 11-month-old conflict in Gaza, three Israelis were shot and killed on Sunday at the border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, according to Israeli officials.
The gunman reportedly approached the Allenby Bridge Crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck, fired at Israeli security forces, and was shot and killed by them, according to the Israeli military. The three Israelis were described as men in their 50s by Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service, while the military claimed they were civilians.
Maher al-Jazi, a retired Jordanian soldier from Athroh, a town in the destitute Maan region, was recognized by family members as the shooter. He was reportedly delivering supplies to the West Bank, according to Jordan’s official Petra News Agency. Per the findings of the preliminary inquiry, the incident was an isolated incident, according to the interior ministry.
Jordan had been looking into it. Despite having made peace with Israel in 1994, the Arab nation that supports the West is bitterly critical of its treatment of the Palestinian people. With a sizable Palestinian population, Jordan has witnessed widespread demonstrations against Israel in response to the Gaza War.
To commemorate the attack, hundreds of Jordanians marched through Amman, burning the Israeli flag and chanting pro-al-Jazi slogans. The leader of the local Muslim Brotherhood Party, Murad Adaileh, declared, “We bless this heroic operation carried out by this noble Jordanian hero.”.
Palestinians and tourists are the main users of the Allenby crossing, also called the King Hussein Bridge, which spans the Jordan River. Few security incidents have occurred at the crossing, but in 2014, Israeli security guards shot and killed a Jordanian judge they claimed had attacked them.
Israel declared the closure of all land crossings with Jordan and closed the crossing. It then stated that everything would reopen on Monday.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, denounced the attack and related it to Israel’s wider struggle with Iran and its allied militant organizations, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Since October, there has been an increase in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The conflict in Gaza began with the July 7 attacks. There has been an increase in Israeli settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis, and Israel has been conducting military arrest raids into crowded Palestinian residential areas almost every day.
Family members expressed their sorrow over the death of American-Turkish woman Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot on Friday in the West Bank. She had been taking part in anti-Israeli settlement demonstrations. As her family requests an independent investigation, the White House stated that it was “deeply disturbed.”. Her body stayed in a Nablus hospital.
Five people, including two women, two children, and a senior Civil Defense official—first responders who work for the Hamas-run government—were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. According to the Civil Defense, Mohammed Morsi, the deputy director for northern Gaza, lived in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp. His home was the target of the strike.
The Israeli military did not respond right away. The army claims that it only targets militants and makes an effort to prevent harming civilians.
At least two girls were killed in another Israeli strike on the Eid family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies and spoke with witnesses.
Due to continuous attacks, all residential internet in central and southern Gaza was unavailable, according to Paltel, one of the territory’s primary telecom providers.
Over 40,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to the Health Ministry of Gaza. In counting, it makes no distinction between combatants and non-combatants. Over 90% of Gaza’s 2 million people have been displaced by the war, often more than once, and there has been extensive destruction as a result.
About 1,200 people, primarily civilians, were slain by militants led by Hamas in their Oct. Seven Attacks. After freeing the majority of the remaining 250 kidnapped individuals in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel during a week-long cease-fire in November of last year, they are still detaining approximately 100 people. It’s estimated that about one-third of the hostages still alive have passed away.
Months have passed while efforts by the US, Qatar, and Egypt to mediate a cease-fire and the release of the hostages have been repeatedly derailed.
The most sacred location in Jerusalem, known by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and Jews as the Temple Mount, may no longer be visited by government ministers without his approval, Netanyahu added on Sunday. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right minister of national security, made a second visit there in July and advocated for permitting Jewish prayer there. Past violence has been stoked by tensions surrounding the compound.
The West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem—areas that the Palestinians desire for a future state—were taken by Israel during the 1967 Middle East conflict. In 2005, Israel evacuated its settlers and troops from Gaza, but it still controlled the majority of its land crossings, its coastline, and its airspace. It enforced an embargo on Gaza alongside Egypt following Hamas’s takeover of the Palestinian Authority from rival factions in 2007.
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