Three murdered in shooting at Jordanian border crossing
Terrorist shot dead by security forces • Jordanian Interior Ministry investigating shooting
A terror attack killed three people at the Allenby Crossing in the Jordan Valley on Sunday, Magen David Adom (MDA) said.
Yohanan Shchori, 61, a resident of Ma’aleh Efraim, and Yuri Birnbaum, 65, a resident of Naama, and Adrian Marcelo Podsmeser, 57, from Ariel, were named as the three victims in Hebrew media.
Earlier, MDA stated that its paramedics and members of an IDF medical team performed resuscitation efforts on the three wounded men which failed, and the responders subsequently pronounced them dead.Security forces killed the terrorist who had approached the area in a truck from the Jordanian side of the border, got out, and opened fire at the security forces, the IDF said.The IDF added that troops at the bridge scene were checking the truck to exclude the suspicion that it had been rigged with explosives.The Jordanian Interior Ministry said the country had begun its own investigation of the shooting, Reuters reported.
A Jordanian official told Reuters that the Allenby Bridge, known as the King Hussein Bridge in Jordan, had been closed.The attack occurred in a commercial cargo area under Israeli control where Jordanian trucks unload cargo entering the West Bank from the Hashemite kingdom.
Maher Al Jazi, a 39-year-old Jordanian citizen who worked as a truck driver, was later identified as the terrorist who carried out the terror attack, according to Israeli media reports.
MDA paramedic Yotam Tzur recounted seeing “three men lying unconscious, with no pulse, not breathing, with gunshot wounds. Together with the IDF medical team, we performed resuscitation efforts, but unfortunately, we had to declare their deaths.”
United Hatzalah paramedic Avi Yudkovsky added, “It was a very difficult scene.”
Israeli politicians react
“We are surrounded by a murderous ideology led by the Iranian axis of evil,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the attack. “In recent days, abhorrent terrorists murdered six of our hostages and three Israel Police officers in cold blood,” he stated, adding, “The murderers do not differentiate between us. They want to murder us all, right and left, secular and religious, Jews and non-Jews, until the last one.”
“What prevents the destruction of our people, as in previous times, is the strength of the State of Israel and the power of the IDF,” Netanyahu asserted.National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stated, “The war we are in is not only against Gaza and Hezbollah but also in Judea and Samaria.” He also noted that he had asked the prime minister to include “victory” “in Judea and Samaria” as part of the “war goals.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: "I send my condolences from the bottom of my heart to their families and loved ones in prayer that they will know no more sorrow," on social media platform X/twitter, on Sunday.
"The peace agreements between Israel and its neighbors are cornerstones in the quest for stability in the region, and we trust all parties to carry out a thorough investigation of this serious incident, the results of which require us to stand firm together in the face of terrorism," he continued.
Herzog added: "We will continue to fight with determination against terrorism and against those who seek to harm the security of the State of Israel and its citizens and the stability of the entire region."
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant sent his condolences to Shchori, Birnbaum, and Podsmeser's families on his official X/Twitter account.
He further noted, "Faced with the Iranian attempts to spread terrorism to our borders and territory - we are increasing our actions and taking the initiative to thwart terrorism in Judea, Samaria, and the eastern border, and are ready to thwart this effort in every arena - near and far."
Reuters contributed to this report.
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