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)
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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.



US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel must take urgent steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action involving US military aid, according to news reports on Tuesday.

"We are writing now to underscore the US government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," they wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts, posted by an Axios reporter on X, according to Reuters.

The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Israel's government also could not be immediately reached for comment.

The report comes as Israeli forces expand operations into northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout the enclave and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.

US officials earlier this year said Israel may have violated international humanitarian law using US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.

This week's letter cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which restricts (prohibits) military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.

It also cited a National Security Memorandum that US President Joe Biden issued in February that requires the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law.