Aid driver kills two Israeli military personnel at Jordan border crossing

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(Reuters) – A driver bringing humanitarian aid from Jordan for Gaza opened fire and killed two Israeli military personnel at the Allenby Crossing into the West Bank on Thursday before being killed by security forces, authorities from both nations said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for what Israel denounced as a “terror attack” at the only gateway for Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank to Jordan.

“The driver accused of the operation is Abdul Mutalib al-Qaisi, born in 1968. He is a civilian who began working as a driver delivering aid to Gaza three months ago,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said.

Israel’s ambulance service said the two Israelis succumbed to their wounds while the attacker was shot dead by security personnel.

Jordan said an investigation would be opened, calling the shootings a threat to its humanitarian role in Gaza. 

Israeli chief of staff Eyal Zamir advised the government to halt the entry of humanitarian aid from Jordan until the completion of an inquiry into the incident, and the implementation of revised screening procedures for Jordanian drivers, the military said. 

Earlier this month, Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting on the outskirts of Jerusalem that killed six people.

In September 2024, a gunman from Jordan also killed three Israelis at the Allenby Crossing before being shot dead by security forces.

(Reporting by Tala Ramadan and Nayera Abdallah; Additional reporting by Enas Alashray and Yomna Ehab in Cairo, Writing by Ahmed Elimam; Editing by Alex Richardson, Ros Russell, Aidan Lewis and Mark Porter)