Three Israelis killed in capturing on West Financial institution-Jordan border

Unlock the Editor’s Digest at no cost

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly e-newsletter.

Three Israelis have been killed after a gunman opened fireplace on safety personnel on the border crossing between Jordan and the occupied West Financial institution, Israel’s army mentioned on Sunday.

The capturing is the primary such incident on the border between Jordan and the West Financial institution for the reason that starting of the struggle between Israel and Hamas in Gaza final 12 months, which has fanned tensions throughout the Center East.

The Israeli army mentioned the gunman had approached the Allenby Bridge, often known as the King Hussein Bridge, in a truck from the Jordanian aspect, earlier than opening fireplace at Israeli forces who have been working on the crossing.

Three Israeli civilians have been killed within the assault, in response to the army. Israel’s paramedic service mentioned all three of the deceased have been males of their 50s. The assailant was shot lifeless by Israeli forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the assault, and Israel’s airports authority mentioned that each the Allenby Bridge — the one hyperlink between the West Financial institution and Jordan — and the land crossings between Israel and Jordan could be closed till additional discover.

Israel’s army mentioned its forces have been finishing up an inspection of the truck to ensure it had not been rigged with explosives, whereas Jordan’s inside ministry mentioned it had launched an investigation into the capturing.

Israeli forces additionally closed the northern and southern entrances to Jericho, the closest West Financial institution metropolis to the Allenby crossing, and have been finishing up checks on automobiles, in response to the Palestinian information company Wafa.

Jordan turned the second Arab nation after Egypt to ascertain diplomatic relations with Israel when the 2 sides signed a peace treaty in 1994. The dominion co-operates with the nation on safety issues, equivalent to when it was a part of a global coalition that helped Israel fend off an Iranian missile barrage earlier this 12 months.

Nonetheless, the hovering Palestinian dying toll from the struggle in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’s devastating October 7 assault on Israel, has strained relations between the 2 nations. Jordan has a big Palestinian inhabitants that has led protests towards the struggle.

Jordan’s King Abdullah has condemned Hamas’s assault, throughout which militants killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 250 hostage, in response to Israeli figures.

However officers in Amman have additionally been fiercely crucial of the devastation wrought by Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza, which has up to now killed greater than 40,800 Palestinians, in response to native well being officers, and fuelled a humanitarian disaster within the coastal enclave.

Earlier this 12 months, King Abdullah’s son, Crown Prince Hussein, decried the failure of the worldwide neighborhood to cease the preventing, and accused the Israeli authorities of “escalating the state of affairs within the West Financial institution as properly and attempting to tug the area right into a regional struggle”.

Tensions within the West Financial institution have risen sharply for the reason that begin of
the struggle in Gaza, and final week Israeli forces launched their greatest operation within the occupied territory for years.