Two Israeli military personnel have been shot dead near a border crossing between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jordan, the Israeli military and medics say.
The two men were identified as reservist Lieutenant Colonel Yitzhak Harosh, 68, and Sergeant Oran Hershko, 20.
The Israeli military said “a terrorist arrived in a truck transporting humanitarian aid from Jordan, and opened fire” near the Allenby Crossing and was killed by security forces at the scene.
Jordan’s foreign ministry said the accused driver, Abdul Muttalib Al-Qaisi, born in 1968, was a civilian who began working to deliver aid to Gaza three months ago. Jordan condemned the incident and has launched an investigation.
The Jordanian foreign ministry condemned the act of violence “as a violation of the law and a threat to the Kingdom’s interests and its ability to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip”.
The ministry said 22 Jordanian aid trucks had crossed the bridge towards Gaza on Thursday as part of measures which had facilitated the passage of 8,664 aid trucks since the start of the war in Gaza.
The attack was praised by the Palestinian armed group Hamas, which Israel is fighting in Gaza, as a response to “the daily crimes and massacres committed by the [Israeli] occupation against our Palestinian people”.
The incident comes one year after three Israeli men were shot dead in the same place by an attacker who the Israeli military identified as a Jordanian truck driver.
The Allenby Bridge crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, lies about halfway between Amman and Jerusalem and is the only official crossing point between the West Bank and Jordan. It is also the only entry point to the West Bank that does not go through Israel.
Jordan and Israel maintain security, trade and diplomatic ties – though Jordan is a vocal critic of Israel’s actions towards Palestinians.
Dozens of trucks cross from Jordan daily to supply goods for markets in both the West Bank and Israel.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli authorities had closed the crossing following Thursday’s shooting.
