عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Shooting Attack at the West Bank-Jordan Border Crossing Kills 3 Israelis

Israeli ambulances are seen at the scene of the attack. (Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service on X)
Israeli ambulances are seen at the scene of the attack. (Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service on X)
TT
TT

Shooting Attack at the West Bank-Jordan Border Crossing Kills 3 Israelis

Israeli ambulances are seen at the scene of the attack. (Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service on X)
Israeli ambulances are seen at the scene of the attack. (Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service on X)

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.

Israel's military said the gunman approached the Allenby Bridge Crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces, who killed him in a shootout. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said the three Israelis were all men in their 50s.

Jordan is investigating the shooting, its state-run Petra News Agency reported. The Western-allied Arab country made peace with Israel in 1994 but is deeply critical of its policies toward the Palestinians.

The Allenby crossing over the Jordan River, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, is mainly used by Palestinians and international tourists, as well as for cargo shipments.  

Authorities in Israel and Jordan said the crossing was closed until further notice. Israel later announced the closure of both of its land crossings with Jordan, near Beit Shean in the north and Eilat in the south.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and linked it to Israel's larger conflict with Iran and allied armed groups, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Israeli-occupied West Bank has seen a surge of violence since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Israel has launched near-daily military arrest raids into dense Palestinian residential areas, and there has been a rise in Israeli settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Lebanon FM Urges Iran to Find ‘New Approach’ on Hezbollah Arms

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L) shakes hands with Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Raggi (R) at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 09 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L) shakes hands with Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Raggi (R) at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 09 January 2026. (EPA)
TT
TT

Lebanon FM Urges Iran to Find ‘New Approach’ on Hezbollah Arms

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L) shakes hands with Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Raggi (R) at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 09 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L) shakes hands with Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Raggi (R) at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 09 January 2026. (EPA)

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi on Friday urged his visiting Iranian counterpart to find a "new approach" to the thorny issue of disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Lebanon is under heavy US pressure to disarm Hezbollah, which was heavily weakened in more than a year of hostilities with Israel that largely ended with a November 2024 ceasefire, but Iran and the group have expressed opposition to the move.

Iran has long wielded substantial influence in Lebanon by funding and arming Hezbollah, but as the balance of power shifted since the recent conflict, officials have been more critical towards Tehran.

"The defense of Lebanon is the sole responsibility of the Lebanese state", which must have a monopoly on weapons, Raggi told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a Lebanese foreign ministry statement said.

Raggi called on Iran to engage in talks with Lebanon to find "a new approach to the issue of Hezbollah's weapons, drawing on Iran's relationship with the party, so that these weapons do not become a pretext for weakening Lebanon".

He asked Araghchi "whether Tehran would accept the presence of an illegal armed organization on its own territory".

Last month, Raggi declined an invitation to visit Iran and proposed meeting in a neutral third country.

Lebanon's army said Thursday that it had completed the first phase of disarming Hezbollah, doing so in the south Lebanon area near the border with Israel, which called the efforts "far from sufficient".

Araghchi also met President Joseph Aoun on Friday and was set to hold talks with several other senior officials.

After arriving on Thursday, he visited the mausoleum of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli air strike on south Beirut in September 2024.

Last August, Lebanese leaders firmly rejected any efforts at foreign interference during a visit by Iran's security chief Ali Larijani, with the prime minister saying Beirut would "tolerate neither tutelage nor diktat" after Tehran voiced opposition to plans to disarm Hezbollah.

Arab World

Hamas Says Israeli Strikes on Gaza ‘Cannot Happen without American Cover’

Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)
TT
TT

Hamas Says Israeli Strikes on Gaza ‘Cannot Happen without American Cover’

Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)

A Hamas official said Friday that Israeli strikes on Gaza "cannot happen without American cover", the day after Israeli attacks killed at least 13 people according to the Palestinian territory's civil defense agency.

Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations.

Gaza's civil defense agency -- which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority -- said Israeli attacks across the territory on Thursday killed at least 13 people, including five children.

In a statement on Friday morning, the Israeli military said it "precisely struck Hamas terrorists and terror infrastructure" in response to a "failed projectile" launch.

"Just yesterday, 13 people were killed in different areas of the Strip on fabricated pretexts, in addition to the hundreds of killed and wounded who preceded them after the ceasefire," Hamas political bureau member, Bassem Naim, wrote on Telegram.

"This cannot happen without American cover or a green light."

Israeli forces have killed at least 439 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The Israeli military said gunmen have killed three of its soldiers during the same period.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by both sides.

Naim also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "evading his commitments and escalating in order to sabotage the agreement and return to war".

He said the Palestinian movement had "complied with all its obligations under the agreement" and was "ready to engage positively and constructively with the next steps of the plan".

Israel has previously said it is awaiting the return of the last hostage body held in Gaza before beginning talks on the second phase of the ceasefire and has insisted that Hamas disarm.

Hamas officials told AFP that search operations for the remains of deceased hostage Ran Gvili resumed on Wednesday after a two-week pause due to bad weather.

Arab World

Germany Calls on Israel to Halt E1 Settlement Plan

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
TT
TT

Germany Calls on Israel to Halt E1 Settlement Plan

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Germany calls on Israel to halt its controversial ​E1 settlement project, said a foreign ministry spokesperson in Berlin on Friday, warning that construction carries the risk of ‌creating more ‌instability in the ‌West ⁠Bank ​and ‌the region.

"The plans for the E1 settlement project, it must be said, are part of a comprehensive ⁠intensification of settlement policy in ‌the West Bank, ‍which ‍we have recently ‍observed," said the spokesperson at a regular government press conference.

"It carries the ​risk of creating even more instability, as it ⁠would further restrict the mobility of the Palestinian population in the West Bank," as well as jeopardize the prospects of a two-state solution, the spokesperson added.