Three Israelis Killed in Attack at West Bank Border Crossing, Linked to Gaza War

Three Israelis were shot and killed on Sunday at the Allenby Bridge 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. The gunman, identified as Jordanian, approached the crossing in a truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces, who killed him in a shootout.

The Israeli military said the attacker was killed in the exchange of fire, and the Israel Airports Authority confirmed that the three victims were all men in their 50s. The crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, has been closed until further notice, and Israel later announced the closure of both of its land crossings with Jordan.

The attack comes amid a surge of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where 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. The war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas' October 7 attack, has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and linked it to Israel's larger conflict with Iran and allied militant groups, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The White House has expressed concern over the violence, calling for an investigation into the killing of an American-Turkish woman who was shot dead on Friday in the West Bank while demonstrating against Israeli settlements.

In Gaza, an Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed five people, including two women, two children, and a senior official in the Civil Defense. The Civil Defense said the strike targeted the home of its deputy director for northern Gaza, Mohammed Morsi, in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp. Another Israeli strike hit the Eid family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least two girls, according to witnesses.

Gaza's Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, with around 90% of the population displaced. The war has caused widespread destruction, and international efforts to broker a cease-fire and the return of hostages held by Hamas have repeatedly bogged down. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and has maintained control over most of Gaza's land crossings and airspace since withdrawing soldiers and settlers in 2005.